Remember Me
by Anawiel Dewdrop
Summary: This is the story of a young girls rise to fame and subsequent fall. She burned too brightly for too short a time. be warned, character death and swearing. Nothing graphic, just suggestions. rating is for the swearing not the overall content.
1. Next Best Superstar

Disclaimer: same old disclaimer still applies - the same one you can find in any of my other DP fics, but if I must…I still don't own Danny Phantom and the credit for the song "Next Best Superstar" goes to Mel C. The credit for "Remember" goes to Butch Hartman's team, don't know exactly who wrote it. But it wasn't me.

A/N: Hey peeps, back once again with another songfic. This one is about…well, I'll leave that blank and see if you can work it out before I revel it. I was sat at my computer one morning reading fanfics before I caught the bus to school and this song came on the radio. It was so perfect I just had to write it. I hope you like it. it's a bit longer that i thought it was gonna be. and it might get even longer...watch this space.

Chapter 1 - Next Best Superstar

She was young when they spotted her. Just a few weeks shy of her 17th birthday. She was singing in a karaoke competition in a local bar, she wasn't supposed to be there but she had friends who had told her about the competition, then forced her to enter, then snuck her in with a fake I.D. then practically threw her onto the stage when it was her turn. She didn't particularly want to be there but once she was on the stage, guitar in hand, and the light was on her she had to admit she liked the feeling. It had secretly been a dream of hers to go professional but she didn't think she was good enough. She knew she was good, (she had won enough boxes of chocolates in other karaoke competitions to know that) but she didn't think she was good enough _'just a little more practice, then I'll make a demo c.d.'_ she would always tell herself. But she had never found the nerve.

That night however, her friends had entered her into the competition because they knew that there were going to be talent scouts present and they knew this could be her chance. And notice her they did. When all of the other acts were on everyone looked in their general direction, listened for a few seconds, then turned back to their drinks and their conversations. But this girl. When she had taken to the stage people had noticed her because of her hair, it was flame red in colour and pulled back into a high ponytail. The name was so unusual it demanded even a little of their attention. She was quite plain apart from her hair; she was wearing a pair of baggy black jeans, black trainers, which were covered by the bottom of her jeans, and a black baggy shirt with long red sleeves. Her clothes hid the fabulous figure all her friends told her she possessed and her face was un-obscured by make-up.

The audience had acknowledged her, and then went back to their beers as they had for all of the other young boys and girls who had had the courage to stand up there. She had stood in the middle of the stage waiting for the background music, when it materialised she had begun to strum her guitar along with it to a tune unfamiliar t those in the bar because t was one of her own creations. As she began to sing, the din grew quieter and quieter until everyone in the room was silent and focused all of their attention solely on her. When she had finished singing the last note a thunderous applause went up from the listeners and the two talent scouts looked at each other and smiled, they had found their new girl.

They watched her smile, bow and leave the stage to rejoin her group of friends who immediately began to pat her on the back and tell her she was fantastic. The girl just blushed and thanked them before turning to the bar and ordering herself a coke. The talent scouts gave her a few minutes before they got up and approached her.

"Hello" the male said, offering his hand to her when he was close enough "my name is Anthony and this…" he indicated the woman who was with him "is my partner Amy"

"Hi" said the girl with flame red hair and aquamarine eyes to match. She looked them up and down. They both looked young, late twenties at most. He had short mousey brown hair and green eyes, she had long blue-black hair and hazel eyes and they were both dressed smartly in business suites, they looked so out of place that the girl felt sorry for them. She grew uncomfortable as they continued to stand in front of her and smile so, without trying to sound rude, she asked "is there a reason you came over?"

"Oh, of course" Anthony said as he began digging in his inside pocket for something, which he proudly produced for her to look at; it was a small piece of card, a business card. "We're from Crush music productions, we heard you on stage and we thought you sounded fantastic. We believe that you may even be the next big thing. We want to offer you a contract"

Her friends screamed but she continued to stare in shock at the business card. _'We want to offer you a contract'_ the words kept rolling themselves around in her headShe couldn't believe what she had just heard _'they want to offer me a contract!'_ She thought about it for a moment, then smiled at them and uttered the one word which was to change her destiny and eventually shatter her soul. "Yes"

_Sign a name, sign away every hour, every day  
You're living your dream_

"Great, just sign your name here then we can go and see your parents and arrange things" Anthony beamed as he produced another, larger piece of paper and a pen. The girl took it from him, leant on the bar next to her coke and wrote in her elegant handwriting _Ember McLain. _

_Play the game; take the blame for the power and the fame  
You're living your dream_

It had been six months since that night in the bar, Ember's career had gone from strength to strength, and her head was still spinning. Her image had changed dramatically. Where she used to wear plain, simple, baggy clothes that covered her body almost totally, now she was wearing skintight pants and small tops that rarely covered her midriff. She now wore outrageous make-up and more jewellery, she had her ears pierced before she had been 'discovered' but hadn't really worn earrings very often.

On her seventeenth birthday she had gotten a new, electric guitar, it was bright pink with turquoise flames and the head looked like a flicker of flame. She had loved it and never went anywhere without it. With this new wardrobe came a new attitude. She had gained more confidence and was now more likely to stick up for herself and say no when she wanted.

The fame she had acquired and the speed at which she acquired it still overwhelmed her at times. She could hardly go out shopping without someone screaming her name and running over asking for her autograph, even when she wasn't wearing her make-up or 'stage clothes'. She was loving the attention she was getting but starting to resent the loss of her privacy. What was worse was when she found out that the media was hounding her friends and family, asking for information about her and blackmailing them. She felt guilty because of the residual side effect her fame had on others and she felt that they blamed her for the intrusion into their once peaceful lives and so had begun to drift away from them. Always she repeated the mantra _'this is my dream, I'm living my dream'_ to keep herself going. Keep herself appearing at all of the events her managers booked for her.

_Sell your life; sell your soul telling everyone you know  
You're living your dream_

Sometimes she felt as if that night in the bar she had signed away not just her professional and personal life, but her soul as well. She was prone to fits of depression, but it was during these times that she found she wrote her best songs, so she just accepted it and went on with her 'life'

_And you know that you're good  
Cause they told you you could be  
The next best superstar  
And you know you can sing  
And you'll do anything to be  
The next best superstar_

_You're the next best superstar_

_Make a joke; do the show, where does all the money go?  
You're living your dream_

As time went on she had begun to withdraw her real self and just present a mask to the public. She would smile and laugh in interviews and rehash the same answers repeatedly to the same monotonous questions. She would stand and sign autographs for the fans who stopped her in the street. She would make appearances and sign cd's. she would have her picture taken with those who had camera's, always maintaining her mask. The only real pleasure she found was when she was on stage with the audience. There she could let her mask drop and be the person she really wanted to be. Someone who still enjoyed what she was doing. Still liked to write her songs and not just writing to try to beat back the worst of the depression when it hit.

While she was the biggest thing to hit the music scene in a long while, she hardly saw any of the money she was getting from her sales despite the fact that she wrote all of her own songs so there were no royalties that needed paying. When she asked where it all was she was told that it cost a lot of money to organise everything, she had so many team members that after they were paid there wasn't much left, but what was left she got all of, apparently. She didn't believe them but didn't ask again. She wasn't in the business for the money anyway, she was here for the music.

_Crack a smile in denial; throw your morals on the fire  
You're living your dream_

She would smile and laugh in public while she knew that on the inside she was dying. She could feel her heart breaking and her soul degrading. She was becoming something she didn't like and every night she would sit in her hotel room and cry while she wrote her songs. She had long ago abandoned her attempt at getting a message to the world through her music. He had been turned into yet another teen rocker who had no individuality. Did what she was told and when she was told. And she loathed it.

_Sell your life; sell your soul telling everyone you know  
You're living your dream_

Now nearly a year after she had first sung in that bar she was sure that she had lost her soul that night. It had shrivelled and died inside of her and her heart was slowly dying along with it. She had given up. Lost all hope and faith in the people around her. The false smiles and friendships. She hated them all, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her old friends had drifted so far away they didn't even want to know her anymore and her family had practically disowned her. Still, whenever she was asked in an interview, she would always say "I'm living my dream"

_And you know that you're good  
Cause they told you you could be  
The next best superstar  
And you know you can sing  
And you'll do anything to be  
The next best superstar_

_You're the next best superstar_

She had wanted this 'life' since she had started to play her guitar and yet, when she had finally gotten it, she had found that it was a hollow life. People only wanted to know her because of her fame and when they found that she wanted to talk, wanted a real friend, they had dumped her and moved onto someone else and left her felling used and alone. Her fame had brought her boyfriends, but they were just as shallow as her 'friends'. She had nearly slept with the first one. She had gone into the bathroom to sort herself out. When she came out, he obviously hadn't heard her because she had heard him the phone to the local paper, offering to exclusively sell his story the next day. She had thrown him out and cried her heart out, swearing to remain celibate until the fame had worn off enough for her to find the right man.

_Now you're broken  
And how they brought you down  
So now you're crawling out_

On her 18th birthday, her boyfriend broke up with her. She wasn't surprised, because she had suspected that he was just as shallow as the rest of them, but she had hoped he wasn't. She was so hurt that she locked herself in her hotel room with her guitar for an hour and wrote a song. She had written it to try to express her feelings and get the pent up frustration and depression out of her system. And it had nearly worked.

When it was finished she had immediately went down to her band and given them copies of her new song. They had practiced it all day and by the time the concert was scheduled to start that night they had it perfect. The fans crowded in, the lights went down and she made her grand entrance.

The concert was a great success. The fans had given her their love, but she was beyond them now, she had smiled and sang her heart out, a secret knowledge clouding her heart. Finally the time came for her to leave so with a heavy heart, and a hidden motive, she announced the last song hoping to get one final message across.

"Thank you for coming tonight. You've been wonderful. It's you, my fans, that have really kept me going. I love you guys. This is my last song so I thought I would make it special. I only wrote this song this afternoon so you are the first to hear it. I want you to remember this song and the great time you had tonight. Cherish your lives and loved ones. You only live once so make sure you live the life you want. Don't live your life being dictated to. Surround yourself with people who are worth your time. The kind who you can give your love to and get just as much in return"

The music started and she began.

_Yeah! Ohh-ooohhh!  
It was, it was September,  
Wind blows, the dead leaves fall,  
__To you, I did surrender,  
__Two weeks, you didn't call... _

_Your life goes on without me,  
__My life, a losing game,  
__But you should, you should not doubt me,  
__You will remember my name... _

_Oh, Ember, you will remember!  
__Ember, one thing remains!  
__Oh, Ember, so warm and tender!  
__You will remember my name! _

_Your heart, your heart abandoned,  
__Your wall, now perishing,  
__Like bad dreams in cold December,  
__Nothing, but ashes remain . . . _

_Oh, Ember, you will remember!  
__Ember, one thing remains!  
__Ember, so warm and tender!  
__You will remember my name! _

_Oh-woo-oh-woo, Ember!  
__You will remember!  
__Ember, one thing remains!  
__Ember, so warm and tender!  
__You will remember my name! _

_Yeah! You will remember my name!_

As she sang the tears formed behind her eyes and began to spill down her cheeks, but her voice never faltered. Only the people in the first two rows could see the tears and while in a corner of their minds they were concerned for her, they were enjoying themselves too much to let the thought encroach any further than the corner it sat in. When she finished the crowd went wild, they had had a real treat tonight and they loved it. She smiled, bid them a goodnight, wished them happy lives and walked offstage. She went strait up to her room without her usual thank you and goodnight to the band.

All the papers carried the story the next day.

"Teen singing sensation Ember McLain was found dead in her hotel room last night. The police are treating it as a suicide."

_And you know that you're good  
Cause they told you you could be  
The next best superstar  
And you know you can sing  
And you'll do anything to be  
The next best superstar_

_You're the next best superstar_

A/N: SniffI'm sorry but I absolutely love her, she is such a cool villain. I wish she would appear more often, alas, she don't. I watched Fanning the Flames and began to wonder about her and what she was like before she died. (but I think that about all of the ghosts. Every time I see one I think to myself "They're dead, I wonder what they were like, how they died, how long have they been dead ect…")

I happened to hear the full song 'Remember' on Butch Hartman's website and it made me think about her back-story. I personally don't think she is evil. I think that she is a really nice girl so I wanted to write about her. Hope you liked it

Did anyone find the hidden clue in the summery as to who it was about? I'll say it again "She _burned _too bright for too short a time." Get it?...I'll leave now.

There may be a kind-of chapter two coming soon, I have the perfect song but I just have to figure out how to work everything out around it.

T.T.F.N

May the angles bless you and keep you safe.


	2. Away From Me

Chapter 2 - Away From Me 

Hiya, this is a bit of a cop out but I can't think of anything else to do with this song then to re-tell the story but through Ember's eyes. It's in the form of a diary. I know, I know I could try something else but this song is so perfect, and I'm still trying to find time for chapter 2 of 'Through Her Eyes'. (Yes there is gonna be one, I've had too many people asking for it to ignore them, but I think I'm gonna see where this fic takes itself before resuming Through Her Eyes, too complicated and time consuming otherwise.)

Big thank you to all my reviewers:

cakreut12: Thank you

Hana Baniira-chan: Thank you very much.

Hikarisailorcat: I know, I even got myself crying at the end. Thank you.

The Angel of Anarchy: I'm honored that it's your new favorite and I think there should defiantly be more Ember fics out there. I can't find that many either. You're welcome for the song, I heard it and want to spread the word. The song ROCKS! I hope there aren't too many mistakes this time and I hope you like anything else of mine you read.

Thank you all for taking the time to review. It really makes my day when I open my mailbox to find a review waiting for me. On more than one occasion it has stopped me feeling really blue (in the middle of a class, when I should be working instead of checking my e-mails )

Be warned there is quite a lot of swearing so i should put the ratin up a notch, but what do you expect from a teenagers diary? Anyway, here goes

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own nothing recognizable and this time the credit for the song goes to Evanescence and, by some funny coincidence, it's called "Away From Me" too.

Dear Diary.

You are NEVER going to believe what happened to me today. I went to that stupid bar where they were having that singing contest. I was so nervous 'cause no-one seemed interested in the people on the stage. I thought they were just going to ignore me and I nearly didn't do it, but Ash THREW me on the stage and I couldn't turn back then. I just stood there and they shone the light at me. I thought 'the hell with it, I'll enjoy myself even if they don't' so I stood there in the spotlight, played my guitar and sang. The most incredible thing happened. First one, then the whole table he was sat at, then people at other tables, then the entire bar, went quiet and listened to me. I had silenced that ENTIRE bar. They were all listening to me. It was GREAT. I felt so appreciated.

When I stopped you could have heard the noise they made in the next county. Some of them even got to their feet and applauded. I'm sure I blushed as I bowed and left as soon as I could. Ash, Serena, Kathryn, Paul and Jake said I sounded fantastic. I'm sure I blushed again so I ordered myself a coke and just stood there chatting for a while, waiting until midnight when they would announce the winner.

I couldn't have been standing there for more than 10 minutes before these two people came over. They looked so out of place it was almost funny, anyway that doesn't matter, what does matter is that they were from some music industry and they wanted to offer me a contract. ME. They offered me a CONTRACT. I thought about it for oh…about half a second, and immediately said yes.

I have been signed to a music company! I'm going to be famous! I will be able to reach so many people with my music, and I'm only 16.

Well, it's getting late, not that I'll be able to sleep with all of the excitement buzzing round my head, but I should at least try.

Night Night

Ember

P.S. I won the contest by the way. $100 prize and free drinks in that bar for a year - that's useful, I can't drink for another 5 years, but that doesn't matter. I got something much better tonight.

Dear Diary.

Happy Birthday to me. I can't believe it, I'm seventeen today, one more year of childhood then I have to grow up and "get a real job", not that my parents class singing as a real job. I got a great present from Amy today. I was kinda obvious from the way it was wrapped up what it was but I never thought it would be so beautiful. It's a BRIGHT pink guitar with turquoise flames all over it. I can't get over how nice it is. I LOVE it.

Anthony must have spent a bomb 'cause he got me a whole new outfit: black skin tight pants, a TINY black top that goes over one shoulder and leaves my arms bare, a long black glove that goes nearly up to my shoulder, a belt and the coolest pair of boots I have ever seen. They're grey with a skull on the front of them.

I'm not sure about the new look, it might take some getting used to. I'm glad he stuck with my Goth look though, I would DIE if they tried to make me into some kind of bubblegum pop princess dressed all in pink or something.

My friends sent me a black choker, two pairs of earrings, a bracelet some make-up and more black clothes. My parents sent me some perfume and a book I had been dying to get my hands on. They said that when I come home I could open the rest of my presents. I miss them so much. It's been a pretty good birthday. I wish I could have spent it with my family but unfortunately, I have to be in the studio recording. The album is nearly finished so they plan to unveil me to the public next week. Me and my new look. Wish me luck.

GTG it's very late and I'm worn out.

Talk to you later

Ember

Dear Diary

Wow, my life had really taken a 180. Six months ago I was a happy-go-lucky 16 year old, working her way through school, singing the odd song in a few karaoke competitions, head in the clouds, normal teenager. Now look at me. I walk down the street and people scream my name at me. They run up to me and ask for a photo and an autograph, I'm happy to of course but it's so overwhelming how often it happens to me.

I have been on SO many talk shows I've lost count and they always ask the same questions, but Amy told me that would happen so I should just grin and bear it until I have established myself, then the questions will change.

Anyway, enough with the complaints, there are plenty of celebrities who have gone through this and come put the other side, so will I.

Right, yet again it is stupid o'clock in the morning again so I had better get some sleep. Talk to you again tomorrow

Ember

_I hold my breath  
As this life starts to take its toll  
__I hide behind a smile  
__As this perfect plan unfolds_

Dear Diary.

Hi, I went on yet another talk show today. They asked the same questions as the other interviewers did. I am starting to get sick of it, but what can I do. I love the music, I love being on stage with the fans, everything else is so monotonous and meaningless, but I can deal with the monotony for the buzz of being on stage.

Not a very long entry I know but I'm super tired tonight.

Talk to you tomorrow

Ember

Dear Diary

I've been at this for eight months now. Eight long months and it doesn't feel like it. I think I've been home twice in all that time. Twice, that's crap. I've never been away from home for so long before. I'm homesick. I miss my friends. I even miss school.

I will be 18 in 3 months and I'm not looking forward to it. I'll be an adult, all the child protection stuff will be taken away and I will be exposed. My family's home address could be given out, they can legally take what ever kind of pictures they want of me and legally print them in the paper. My entire life will be open for them to poke and prod and search through. Any shred of privacy I have left now will be gone. Not that I have much anyway. The only time I get alone is when I lock myself in my room with my music and pretend I can't hear them banging on the door for me.

Speaking of which, I think they want me for something, I can hear mutterings of ramming the door down and to hell with the bill. Better go and tell them to ram it 'cause I can't take any more people tonight.

Bye

Ember

Dear Diary

It's all starting to get too much for me. I don't know how long I can go on for, but I will. I'll keep going, keep hiding behind the mask I have made for myself. Keep pretending everything is a-okay. Keep laughing, I mean what else is there to do?

I think I feel another song coming on, gotta go before I forget it. I'll talk to you again tomorrow.

Bye

Ember

_But oh, God, I feel I've been lied to  
__Lost all faith in the things I have achieved_

Dear Diary

I have a feeling that Anthony and Amy are keeping something from me. Every time I ask about money or something they give me some bullshit story about having a team. Well I'm buggered if I've seen enough people of my 'team' for them to justify taking more than half of my earnings from me. Personally I think they're just screwing me over because they think I'm too young to do anything about it. Less than two months and I will be legally classed as an adult, like to see them try to screw me over then.

It's not just the money that's bothering me though. I'm not here for the money. I'm here to try and reach out to people who need a message of hope. But I don't think I'm getting there. My music and lyrics are so censored that by the time I get round to recording the actual song it is a shadow of it's former self. I don't think I even believe in myself anymore. My songs aren't my own and I don't think I have reached a single person. Sure I have loads of fans, but it's not _my_ songs they're listening to, it's the industry's after they have finished fucking about with my original song.

_And I  
__I've woken now to find myself  
__In the shadows of all I have created  
__I'm longing to be lost in you  
__(away from this place I have made)  
__Won't you take me away from me?_

The only person I can really turn to is Ash. He's stood by me this entire time. And I think he may be starting to be more than just a friend. I wish he would just take me away from all of this crap.

Anyway, it's late and I've got another big appearance to make tomorrow (oh let me go find a container for my joy) and my look is weird enough without adding big black bags under my eyes.

Talk to you tomorrow

Ember

_Crawling through this world  
__As disease flows through my veins  
__I look into myself  
__But my own heart has been changed_

Dear Diary

Isn't the world strange through the eyes of the famous? Every where I look I see falsities. People smiling when I appear, taking my bags, shaking my hand, asking for my autograph. What is it about this industry that makes everyone so fake (apart for the plastic surgery?) I can get away with anything now that I'm famous, and I hate it. But do you know what's worse. 9 months ago if I had come up against all these fake people in my life I would have told them where to ram it and walked off. Now, I can feel myself falling into step with them. I'm changing. I'm changing to conform with them. I know, shock horror, Ember McLain - self-proclaimed individual rebel who refuses to go with the flow is conforming with the society she has found herself dumped into.

The phrase "like a lamb to the slaughter" springs to mind. I'm toying with the idea of running away, just disappear after a show one night. Poof, away into the night. That would really fuck them up. But I can't. they'd find me again before even the media found out. Oh well, it's nice to dream.

Well, I think that's deep enough for one day. Talk to you later

Ember

_I can't go on like this  
__I loathe all I've become_

Dear Diary

I had an epiphany this morning. Not only am I changing, but I hate it. No, not hate, hate's not strong enough. I loathe it. I hate myself, I hate my friends who just up and dumped me when I got famous. My family, who seem to have forgotten I exist. Anthony and Amy, don't even get me started on them. They are such assholes. I wish I could just break away and do my own thing, sign onto a different label and really go somewhere.

Unfortunately when those bastards approached me and offered me the contract in the first place they neglected to mention the fact that it was a two year, contract that I can't get out of.

That's probably why they're treating me so badly. They know I can't do anything about it for another year. Oh how I hate them.

_I've woken now to find myself  
__In the shadows of all I have created  
__I'm longing to be lost in you  
__(away from this place I have made)  
__Won't you take me away from me?_

Ash, where are you? Have you abandoned me as well? It's been two weeks. Why haven't you called me. Was I not good enough for you? Did you ever love me, or was that all fake as well? I think I already know.

Why? I told you about my pain. I told you I needed an anchor. You PROMISED you would stay with me, no matter what. Was the fame too much for you? Ha, you only had it for a week. I would ask how you think I feel, but I told you, and you still left.

As far as I'm concerned you're nothing more than a bad dream.

Okay, I think I've vented enough for one night. I'll sign off now and talk to you again later okay.

Bye

Ember

_Lost in a dying world  
__I reach for something more  
__I have grown so weary of this lie I live_

Dear Diary.

Another Birthday rolls around. Wow, where was I one year ago. WHO was I a year ago? A year ago I got the guitar I play on now. A year ago I was so happy, I was on the brink of becoming famous, I still had my family and my friends loved me. Where is she, that girl who wrote in this exact diary one year ago full of hope and joy, excitement about finally getting the world to hear her songs. I know what happened to her. She died. She was crushed by the weight of fame and loneliness. Her heart and soul died and she left the empty shell that I now inhabit behind her.

I think this may be the last time we talk. I have finally had enough. My life is a sham. The world I live in is a load of bollocks. I can't trust anyone, can't love anyone. My parents don't accept my calls anymore. My friends…HA…what friends. They abandoned me as soon as I hit it big time. I miss them. I wish I had never gone to that stupid fucking bar now. Why did I let them drag me there?

I give up. I'm going to give this one last concert. Then I will end it. I'm too tired to go on. I don't know how these celebrities do it but I'm not strong enough. No-one loves me anymore. People idolize Ember McLain rock star. No-one wants to know Ember McLain mixed up teenager in need of genuine love.

Why did you try to use me Ash? I thought you were the one. Why did you have to be like every other bastard out there, out for my fame and my money.

_I've woken now to find myself  
__In the shadows of all I have created  
__I'm longing to be lost in you_

Well, not even you can save me now. I asked you, I nearly begged you to take me away. And you used me. This is it then, this is what it feels like to be totally devoid of hope and love. This is how I will be remembered. Okay, then I'm going in style. One last concert where I will premiere my very last song, then that's it. No more. No more concerts, no more songs, no more fans. Nothing. That's what I will be remembered as.

Well, that's it, my last entry. I hope someone finds this and lets Anthony and Amy know just how miserable they made me. I guess I won't be talking to you later so this is goodbye.

All my love

Ember

_I've woken now to find myself  
__In the shadows of all I have created  
__I'm longing to be lost in you  
__Away from me_

A/N: Runs and hugs Ember don't worry, it's all over now, no more assholes.

I know, I could have done something else, maybe progressed the story, told what happened after she died, try and figure out why she came back if she was so miserable…can you guess what happened while I was writing this chapter? That's right, another damn plot bunny snuck up on me and bit me good and hard on the ankle. There is going to be a chapter three, and I promise I won't cop out with another diary. There will be a story in the next chapter.

May the angels bless you and keep you safe.


	3. The Welcome Wagon

Look Look Look! There's a chapter 3! "On Talaxia we have a saying. The dream dreams the dreamer." (anyone who can tell me where that came from gets a cookie ) Well, it looks like the story has chosen the storyteller.

I can see this getting either ridiculously huge or it will just stop dead (ha ha, I made a funny) after this chapter. Depends on how much homework I have and how little I want to do it. I know for definite what it is though, a very welcome (but not very good for me) distraction from schoolwork. Just when I need to be concentrating harder than ever.

Big Thank You to my reviewers:

The Angel of Anarchy: I agree, much sadder from a first person perspective, I adore Evanescence, I have nearly everything they've recorded. Is this soon enough for an update? Lol

cakreut12: (hands cakreut 12 a box that is moving and making strange noises) here you go, one evil plot bunny. This one is particularly nasty, it keeps chewing the bars off it's cage, and they're made of steal! Good luck with your stories

You really do keep me going. I love you all.

For disclaimer see chapters 1 and 2.

Chapter 3 - The Welcome Wagon 

The girl woke up in the strangest place she had ever seen. The light seemed to be coming from an indeterminable source and was casting everything in a strange kind of greenish glow. And there were doors. Everywhere there were purple doors, floating in the green black sky. '_Wait, Floating, where am I?' _

She woke feeling disorientated and confused. The last memories she had were of sitting in her hotel room looking at her guitar, her new song, and the bottle of pills on the nightstand. She could remember the tears. The feelings of hopelessness. Then everything went a bit fuzzy, then black. She remembered the blackness. It was so cold, so empty, and dark, very very dark.

She didn't have long to sit in the light and brood however because very soon after she woke up something snuck up behind her and screamed in her ear

"I AM THE BOX GHOST"

She jumped so high she thought she was floating 10 feet in the air. When she turned around to see who it was she was met with empty air. '_AIR?'_ It was then that she realised that she actually was floating about 10 feet in the air. She let out a little scream of shock, which made her loose her concentration and begin to plummet back down to what appeared to be the ground.

She landed with an incredible bump but there was surprisingly little pain accompanied with the landing. She sat in shock for a few minutes, wondering where she was and what had happened. Then the words the mystery person had screamed in her ear registered '_the box GHOST. Ghost? But there's no such thing. Must have been a joke.' _

She decided she wasn't going to get anything figured out just sitting there so she put her hands on the ground in front of her to help her get up. When she looked down at her hands, she received yet another surprise. Her skin had changed from a healthy (if a bit on the pale side) shade of pink to a very unhealthy shade of what looked to be pale blue, as if that wasn't enough, her arms were glowing. But she didn't have time to wonder about that, she needed to find someone, find out where she was and how to get out of this place.

She got back to her feet and surveyed her surroundings. There wasn't much more to look at apart from the doors. And the floating people. _'Floating people!' _

"If this is a dream it's the weirdest one I have ever had" she said into the black sky.

"It's not a dream sweetheart"

For the second time in ten minutes she jumped right out of her pale blue glowing skin, but this time she assumed she could float, so she didn't land with as quite as hard a bump. Instead, she remained in the air bobbing up and down gently as she turned to see who this new person was. She was relieved to find that this time when she turned there was a face to go with the voice.

It was the face of a woman who didn't look much older than her late twenties, she was well dressed in a red suit jacket and skirt with a shirt and tie. She was wearing sunglasses, which seemed to serve no other purpose than to sit on the end of her nose. Her hair was red and stuck up in a very weird style. What the girl found weirdest about her were her eyes, they were the most startling shade of green she had ever seen in her life, they looked as if they almost glowed.

"Who are you?" the girl asked as she continued to float in front of the newcomer

"Spectra, Penelope Spectra, and what can I call you?" Spectra asked with a grin, in a tone that suggested she was talking to a 5 year old.

"I'm Ember"

"Ember, that's an unusual name, suites you though." Again she smiled.

"You said this isn't a dream, if it's not then where are we, and why am I here?" Ember asked. For some reason she had a feeling that this person would provide her with the answers she desired. She seemed to have a kind of calming aura to her, like someone who should be a counsellor.

"Sweetheart, you're in the ghost zone"

"The WHAT!"

"The Ghost Zone" she emphasised every word as if she were talking to someone who was partially deaf.

"But…ghosts aren't real, are they?" Ember had started to stutter in fright, dreading the answer.

"Of coarse we're real, why do you think everyone here is floating" she paused for a second and looked at Ember's feet "including you"

Ember followed Spectra's eyes and looked down at her feet. She noticed a couple of things then. The first was that she was still wearing the outfit she had gotten for her 17th birthday. The second was that it wasn't just her arms that were blue; her entire body was blue and encased in a soft white light. The third was that her boots were indeed floating a few inches off the ground. For the second time she shrieked and landed on the ground with a bump. She heard Spectra laugh as she started to get to her feet again. As she got up a piece of her hair fell into her eyes, she was about to brush it behind her ear as usual, until she saw the colour. It was no longer the bright shade of red it was the last time she had checked. Now it was the same turquoise colour as the flames on her guitar. _'My Guitar! Where's my guitar!'_

She got to her feet in a panic and began looking around for it. By some miracle, she saw it lying a few feet from her. She ran over to it and picked it up. She felt the familiar comforting weight of it on her back as she hung the strap over her shoulder and swung it so it rested with the head pointing down to the ground behind her. Re-united with her guitar she felt strong enough to deal with anything (which was a good thing considering all the surprises she had had since she had woken up in this bizarro-land)

She then walked back over to the woman in red and prepared herself for a very weird and possibly terrifying conversation. Steeling herself she looked the woman strait in the eye and began asking the questions she was able to formulate after her brain had recovered from the strange things it had had to process recently.

"You said 'of course WE are' what did you mean"

Spectra sighed and looked at Ember with something that looked like pity. "You have no idea do you?"

"That's not what I asked"

"But that's my answer; tell me, what is the last thing you remember?" Spectra now took up a sitting position in mid air and began to sound more like a counsellor. With all of the things that had happened to her recently this didn't bother Ember as much as it would have not so long ago. She remained standing, averted her eyes from Spectra's and tried to remember.

"I remember…a hotel room. I was sitting on a bed in a hotel room. And I was crying. Looking at my guitar. I remember looking at the song I had just performed and feeling worthless. I remember looking at the bottle of pills I had on my bedside table…then I remember feeling light-headed, dizzy, like all of my cares were slipping away and then blackness…that's it."

"Sweetheart, do you know why you're here?"

"If I knew that I wouldn't have asked you would I and you STILL haven't answered my question, what do you mean WE are real?" Ember's voice was laced with sarcasm and anger but Spectra ignored it, she was used to it by now having been assigned as the official welcome wagon for all of the new ghosts that arrived.

"You, me, and everyone else living in this realm are ghosts" Spectra explained. As with all of the new arrivals, this girl's face registered disbelief, dought and anger. This was why Spectra had been chosen to greet the new arrivals. She could appear human to ease them into the revelation that they were dead, then change and frighten them into believing if need be. And it looked like this girl needed to be.

End of chapter.

A/N: I have hit upon a fantastic idea. I have had so many ideas for this fic that instead of shoving it all into one huge chapter; I will break it up into lots of smaller chapters. Damn rude little plot bunnies just won't leave me alone, no matter how many traps I set they just seam to hop over them or get round them somehow. They seam to like to attack me at random times as well. Little gits.

I know boo, hiss, making you wait longer, but hey that means more story for anyone who might enjoy it. And the chance for me to see how well I cope trying to write two stories, two essays for English, a piece of coursework for Biology, a report for Health and Social Care, any poems I might start along the way and revise for my exams all at the same time. Oh joy and fun!

Hope you liked and don't worry, I'm having too much fun watching where this story takes itself to stop writing it. There may be big gaps between updates for all of the above mentioned reasons, but it will be updated, I promise.

T.T.F.N.

May the angels bless you and keep you safe.


	4. Nightmares, Cookies and Bees

Here we go, chapter 4. I'm turning these out faster than I thought, and without needing a song for inspiration either. How proud of myself am I? But then again, the fasterI write them the shorter they get.I'm gonna have to find some kinda balance between speed and length I think.

Once again, thank you to my reviewers:

cakreut12: I hope the bunny hasn't mauled you yet (mine do often) but I do hope it has at least bitten lol. Thanx for the review

hikarisailorcat: have you ever seen 'my brothers keeper'? that's what she's gonna do. Thanx for the review

And on we go…

Chapter 4 - Nightmares, Cookies and Bees

"I don't believe you" Ember stated, defence on her face and in her voice.

"Why not"

Because ghosts aren't real and I would remember something as significant as my own death"

"Sweetie, the trauma of dying wipes the memory of it from everyone, they remember the last few minutes of their lives but never their own deaths. As for ghosts not being real…" Spectra got back to her feet from the sitting/floating position she had taken up. She raised her arms in the air and a ring of black flames developed at her feet. Her eyes turned blood red as she bent her knees. The ring of flames seemed to explode upwards and engulf her body. Ember had to turn her head away to keep from being blasted in the face. When she turned back there was the most terrifying and horrific thing she had ever seen.

Where the pleasant woman in red had stood only seconds before there was now only a shape that looked vaguely female. It had no legs, just some kind of tail, and was floating in mid air. But the worst thing about her wasn't that she was floating, it was that she was entirely engulfed in black flames.

Ember screamed. She screamed louder that she ever had in her life. Then she turned and ran, too scared to look back and see that the woman in red had reappeared and was calling after her, warning her not to go out on her own. Her calls fell on deaf ears and before Spectra could take off and follow her, she had disappeared.

"Whoops, too soon" Spectra said to the empty space the girl with aquamarine hair had just occupied. She shrugged and flew off, knowing that she would eventually catch up with her. They always came back to her.

Ember had no idea where she was or where she was going but she didn't care. She just had to get away from that nightmare behind her. When she finally thought she had run far enough she slowed and stopped. That was when she noticed something she had been too preoccupied to notice before. Usually when she ran, especially as fast and far as she had just then, she was out of breath when she stopped and her heart was usually racing. This time, she wasn't out of breath at all, in fact, she wasn't _breathing_ at all. In a panic she brought her fingers to her wrist to try and find a pulse. She didn't find one so she brought her fingers up to her neck and tried again. Again, she found nothing.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!" she screamed into the sky.

"Not so loud dearie, we may be dead but we can still hear just fine"

Ember whirled, for the third time today she had been surprised by a voice that always managed to initiate from behind her. If she hadn't been so terrified she would have found it annoying and slightly funny. This time when she looked she was presented with the face of an elderly woman, he had white hair and wore a pink dress and hairnet, over this she had a white apron. And the exposed skin was green. She looked harmless enough. '_But so did that Spectra woman' _so Ember decided to take her chances and try to get some answers from this woman.

"I'm sorry, I'm jut a little scared. I woke up in this weirdo place and this woman appeared. She told me I was dead and then she changed into this monster and scared the shit out of me. I ran. Now I've just stopped and I can't feel my heart and I'm not breathing." Ember said all of this in a panicked rush, trying to sort through all of it in her head as the words spilled from her mouth.

"Of course you can't feel your heart, your dead dearie, and so are we all, didn't Spectra tell you?"

"yea, but I didn't believe her, and I don't believe you. I can't be dead."

The pleasant old woman's face fell. Then she seemed to grow, and grow, and grow. As she did her hair shot like flames behind her as she towered over the terrified teenager and boomed.

"WHETHER YOU BELIEVE ME OR NOT IT'S TRUE. YOU DIED." She then shrank back to her original size and produced a plate from behind her back "Cookie?"

Ember nodded her head mutely and accepted a cookie from the old woman. As she stood and ate it she contemplated her situation and the people she had met so far.

'_She is the second person to tell me I'm dead and the first person I encountered screamed in my ear about being a ghost; they couldn't all be playing a joke on me could they? I mean I met them randomly, at least I think I did. And the floating people and doors kinda give their claim more weight. Oh I'm so confused; maybe I should go find that Spectra woman again. She might be able to help me, even if she is some kind of weird monstrous freak'_

She finished her cookie but when she turned to thank the woman, she found herself confronted with empty air again. _'I wish they would stop doing that' _she sighed to herself and began walking roughly in the direction she thought she had come from.

An hour later, she was still wondering and hadn't found a sign of Spectra. She had found many other ghosts who had scared her, yelled at her, ignored her or made her pity them for how pathetic they were, even in the fragile emotional state she was currently in. Some had tried to help her find Spectra but she still hadn't managed to locate her. Just as she was about to give up and just wonder around aimlessly she bumped into another ghost. This one was a very short old man; he had white/grey hair, a moustache and bright green eyes. He was dressed very smartly; he even had a bow tie and a waistcoat. The teen decided to try her luck one last time before she gave up completely.

"I'm sorry, but you wouldn't happen to know a woman named Spectra would you?"

"I might, why?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where I could find her would you?"

"I might"

"Look" Ember had had enough of the roundabout answers "enough with the arseing about, do you know where she is and if you do, could you take me to her"

A frown graced the features of the man. His eyes turned red and Ember dreaded what might happen next, the last time that had happened Spectra had changed into a nightmare. First, he turned into a green shapeless mass with arms, then he changed again into a huge bee.

"Follow me" was all he said before he flew off.

End of chapter

A/N: This is starting to get good. Even I'm interested in where this is taking itself 'cause believe me I have no control over what is happening in this fic. Hope you liked.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe.


	5. Reintroductions and Acceptance

Thank you to my reviewers

Sukira-chan: I know, just wait 'till later, even more guests should be popping up.

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: Thank you, of course there is more, it's too much of a distraction from what I'm meant to be doing for me to stop now.

cakreut12: Howz the bunny? Thank you for reviewing and I hope your stories are coming along.

It's always an honour to open your mailbox to find a new review waiting for you, but 4 in the one day! Thank you so much.

And on we go…

Chapter 5 – Re-introductions and Acceptance

"Wait!" the young rock star called to the gigantic bee's retreating back.

"What" the bee asked irritably as he looked over his shoulder at the girl who hadn't moved a muscle

"I can't go that fast on foot"

The bee flew back to her, looked into her eyes with his pitch black ones and spoke in a tone that suggested she was five years old and unable to grasp the simple concept he was about to explain to her. "So fly then"

"I can't"

"Why not"

"I don't know how to fly"

The bee looked at her incredulously for a few seconds before it changed back into a green blob and landed in front of her.

"What do you mean you can't, every ghost can fly"

"Look, I woke up in this whacked out place about an hour ago. Since then I have been terrified, chased, screamed at, and treated like a child while trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Flying, is not something I have been too concerned with"

They fell silent for a few minutes while the blob considered their options. Ember shifted from foot to foot, getting more and more nervous about what the creature might say. For the first time since she woke up she let her mind wonder back to what was her life. She remembered being happy once. Before she had become famous she had had friends and a loving family. She had had Ash. His memory hurt the worst. How he had said he loved, tricked her into bed and then disappeared. Never phoning, never acknowledging that she was alive. Ha, the irony of that last thought did bring a mirthless snort from her. According to these people she wasn't alive anymore. She had died that night in the hotel room, and it was partially his fault. She found that the sadness and misery she had felt because of him had transformed themselves into anger and something that bordered on hatred. She had begun to hate him for what he had put her through.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the blob, he was waving his hand in front of her face as if he had been trying to get her attention for a while. _'Old habits die hard' _she had a habit of spacing out when she was deep in thought and it usually took a lot to get her out of her self induced trance. She mentally shock herself and focused her attention on the shape before her

"Okay. I don't have the time or the patience to try to teach a newbie how to fly. So I'll take you to Spectra and she can do that"

"And how are you going to take me when I can't fly"

"I'll have to carry you" He shifted into the bee again, picked her up by the arms and flew off with her.

Initially she screamed and struggled and demanded to be put down but after being threatened to be let down from their present height she stopped and just let the ghost bug take her where it was going. Not as if it could do much to her anyway, she was already dead apparently.

Half an hour later she felt and saw that they were descending, into what she couldn't decide and didn't have time to think about because she was hitting the ground before she knew what was going on. She stood up from the crumpled heap she had landed in and found herself facing of these mysterious floating doors. When she looked around for the bee that had brought her here, she found that the old man was back.

"Um…What are we doing here?" she asked him as she stared at the door.

She didn't get a reply; the little man just reached up and knocked on the door that was levitating in front of them. As she opened her mouth to speak to him again the door opened a crack, and then promptly slammed shut. The teen barley had time to blink before the door was thrown wide and the smiling face of Spectra appeared in the doorway.

"Ember, so good to see you again. Come in." she stepped aside and allowed her two guests entry. Whatever Ember was expecting when she walked through the door, it wasn't what she found. She walked into what appeared to be a normal sitting room. The walls were painted red, and the carpet, and the curtains. There was a three-seater sofa, a two-seater and a single chair, all facing what appeared to be a T.V. and arranged around a coffee table. It looked nothing like what she imagined the lair of the thing she had encountered not long after arriving would look like. Their host invited them to sit so the girl took a seat on the two-seater while the shape shifter sat in the armchair.

Spectra took the seat next to Ember and smiled at her before she spoke "I'm sorry I scared you so much the last time we met but you really needed to know and that as the only way I could think of to prove it to you. You're okay with that aren't you sweetie?"

"Not really. I had no idea where I was or what had happened to me and you just appeared out of no-where, insisted I was dead, then scared the crap out of me and left me to fend for myself in a crazy bizarro-land full of what I assume are other ghosts, and not all of them are Casper like. And I don't like being called sweetie. I was 18 when I died"

"So you accept it then?" Spectra tactfully dodged the angry teen's comments and cut to the heart of the admission she was sure even the girl herself had missed.

"Accept what?" Ember looked puzzled for a minute while she tried to recall what she had just said

"You accept that you're dead"

"I have no choice do I? That's all that's been rammed down my throat since I woke up." The teen shot back. She was tired of running and denying. When she thought about it, it made perfect sense. Her last memories before she woke up were not pleasant ones, and she could remember considering the course of action she evidently took in the end.

"That's not what I asked…"

"But that's my answer" Ember smiled at the irony of the last two sentences. Two hours ago those two statements had been delivered the other way round. When she was the one looking for the answers and Spectra was the one brushing her off with half answers.

The irony was not lost on the older woman either. She smiled and reached over to the young girl. Taking her hand she stood up and gently pulled the rock star to her feet.

"Come on. You're going to be here for a long time so we may as well show you around make some introductions and find you somewhere to live. Oh, before I forget, this is Bertrand, but you've already met him" she finished as she indicated the old man who was now standing as if to follow them out.

Before she could open her mouth Spectra had pulled her out of the comfortable living room and back out into the ever-changing black/green vortex that is the ghost zone.

End of chapter

A/N: not sure if that's how you spell Bertrand, but you know who I mean, I hope. This is going to be one hell of a fic by the time I finish it, I have too many ideas. Must lay better traps for those friggen' bunnies. Once again thank you for the reviews and I'll speak to you again in the next chapter.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe.


	6. Learning to Fly

I'm sorry this one took longer but at least it's here now.

Thank you to my reviewer

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

And hello to my friend MontyPythonFan if she's reading this. I hope you continue writing

And here we go

Chapter 6 – Learning to Fly

"Okay, lets go" Spectra's sugary sweet voice emanated from the ghoul in front of Ember. After they had come outside she and Bertrand had changed into their ghost forms in preparation for the tour around the Ghost Zone.

"WAIT!" Ember screamed at the form in front of her as it began to rise into the air.

The inky black nightmare drifted back down to her and looked into her eyes before speaking. "What's the matter sweetie?"

"I STILL can't fly!"

"There's no need to scream sweetie, though it is a bit weird that you can't fly, that's usually the first thing…" she trailed off as she realised that the rest of the sentence would have been 'I teach'

"Yea, well I was left on my own for most of my time here wasn't I. I've only just accepted that I am dead, I can't fly. Now what, are you going to teach me or do I just learn?"

Spectra brought a finger to her purple lips in thought. "Well, it's obvious, first we teach you to fly, _then _take you on a tour."

"Okay, start teaching." Without her noticing Bertrand had once again morphed, this time into a giant green bird. When he saw Spectra nod, almost imperceptibly, he pickedthe teenagerup in his talons and shot up 20 feet in the air before Ember could even scream.

She had plenty of time to scream when he dropped her though. She was left to plummet to the ground, all the while Spectra yelled at her about using her power, or her energy or something. The teen could barley hear her over her own screams. She landed on her backside and immediately swore, waiting for the accompanying pain. Very little came so she got up, rubbed it to try to take away the pain she did feel and glared daggers at the two forms in front of her who seemed to be havinga great laugh at her expense.

"THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!" she screamed at them, which only made them double over and howl with laughter. She just stood and continued to glare at them, waiting for them to recover enough so she could yell at them some more.

Eventually the laughter did fade and the attention shifted back to the teenager who was almost literally fuming at them.

"We're sorry sweetie, it's just something we like to do to newbies, it didn't hurt too much did it?" Spectra asked, genuine regret and concern evident in her voice.

"No but it was friggin' scary, and if that is what I'm gonna have to do to learn to fly then I would rather walk." She turned to storm off but a black hand on her arm stopped her.

"Of course that's not what you have to do to learn, that's just a little joke we like to play, though the shock of being dropped sometimes does make some people learn. Obviously you're not one of them"

"Obviously" Ember sneered, dislike beginning to blossom in her mind for the woman floating before her.

"Okay, we'll start with the real lessons now" Spectra said as she transformed back and landed on the ground, she intercepted Ember next comment before she made it. "It's easier to teach you like this, then I can show you in a form that is the same as your own."

"Okay, so seriously, what do I do first, and if he picks me up one more time I will just walk away, I don't care what it's like here."

"Don't worry, you won't be picked up again. Now it's up to you how you feel more comfortable but I recommend you remain standing while learning."

"Okay, so what do I do?" Ember asked as she began to get annoyed at all of the delays she was having to suffer.

"First, close your eyes"

Ember complied but with an element of mistrust for the green blob that was now standing on the ground watching the proceedings with what looked like boredom.

"Now, I know this is going to sound strange but you need to look inside yourself…"

"How can I do that with my eyes closed?" Ember asked with a grin

"Do you want to learn or not?" Spectra's voice took on a hint of anger as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the teenager before her.

Ember opened one of her eyes before she spoke "Of course I do but it's so ridiculous, how am I supposed to look inside myself?"

"With your inner eye sweetie"

The reappearance of the name grated on Ember but she ignored it and closed her eyes again, thinking that this whole inner eye thing was just another joke they were playing on her. But she turned her sight inward, with a surprising amount of ease, and looked.

"You should see a light."

To her astonishment she did, it was a bright white light that seemed to float in the centre of her body.

"I do"

"Good, nowI want you reach for it"

This time,The rock starcomplied without a sarcastic comment or a complaint. She found that, despite her doubts, she indeed could 'reach' for the light. When she reached for it she found it felt…pure. The way she thought a soul would feel if it were tangible.

"Can you touch it" Spectra's voice interrupted her musings again

"Yes"

"Good, now I want you to remember how that feels 'casue that's the sorce of all of your power"

Ember opened her eyes to look at the woman in red, just to see if she was laughing at her while she wasn't looking, and to try and catch the truth in her eyes before she would have had a chance to mask it. It was there. she wasn't rying to make a fol out of her.

"What do you mean the source of all of my powers"

"Haven't you wondered about how you glow or how anyone around here flies?"

"Of course I have"

"Well sweetie, it all stems from that little ball of light."

Ember stood amazed "All of it, from that little ball"

"Yes, now are you finished asking questions?"

"Yes"

"Good, now the next step is to try and release that energy. First bring your hands up in front of you like this." Spectra demonstrated by bringing her hands up as if she were holding a basket ball a few inches from her stomach with her fingers webbed around it. Ember imitated, beginning to feel a little stupid but knowing that if it worked the result would be worth the effort.

"Good. Now relax, and listen. Listen to the centre of your body, until you start to feel a pull…"

"A pull?" Ember asked to which Spectra responded with a nod of her head. Ember shrugged and concentrated on feeling for this pull

"It will feel just like the light you just felt a minute ago"

Astonished, the teenager found that she did indeed feel a pull. "I can feel…something"

"Good sweetie, now don't try to fight it, just let it out"

Ember didn't quite understand what Spectra meant but she did as she was told and let the energy out. Then she figured out why she had been told to hold her hands up. When she looked down at her hands again she found something was starting to form between her palms, something that was very bright. As she concentrated harder she found that the thing was forming into a little ball of pure light, it felt just like the light she had felt inside of herself. Spectra encouraged her and within a minute she held a tiny glowing ball of pure white light between her palms.

"That's it, you've done it"

Ember was overjoyed with herself and she let the light sink back into her body as she looked up at Spectra who was also beaming.

"Congratulations, now we've just got to get you to use that energy, and that's the easy part. First, focus on that energy but don't release it"

"Okay" was all Ember said before she closed her eyes and concentrated on the energy.

"Can you see it?"

"Yes"

"Now, use it, take hold of it and push it down, down towards your feet."

Ember did as she was told, with a feeling of trepidation; she looked inside herself, took hold of the ball of energy and forced it down.

While she was internally struggling with herself on the outside it was obvious that she was beginning to win. A small wind began to pick up around her feet and swirl around her. A smile brought itself to Spectra's lips as she saw Embers boots lift themselves off the ground and she began to float.

End of Chapter

A/N: I've just discovered something else now. I write the most when I am at school and should be doing something else, I can't write at the weekend when I have al the time in the world to write. There is going to be loads more if I can only advance the story by about 30 seconds a chapter.

A/N 2: For any DBZ fans, you should recognise the way Ember was taught to fly, it's the same way Gohan taught Videl, I couldn't think of any other way so that idea isn't mine, it belongs to the creator of DBZ but i can't remember his name.

Hope you liked

Please review

May the Angels Bless you and keep you safe.


	7. An Evil Shadow

Hiya, back again, sorry it took so long but school keeps getting in the way - damn rude of it in my opinion. I don't know if this will be good news or bad news but this story is going to be at **least** 10 yes _10! _chapters long more thank likely it will be many more. Interpret that how you will but this is going to get big, I hope you can stay with me for that length of time.

As compensation for the amount of timeI made you wait, I've made this chapterridiculously long

Thank you to my reviewers

obi-quiet: Thank you

cakreut12: Is the bunny working or is just randomly mauling you and your loved ones? Lol. Thank you for the review

bakachan: I couldn't agree more. I think we should send round a petition to all Ember fans and get them to sign it to say that we want her to appear in more eppies. I don't care about Technus or Skulker or Kitty and Johnny or Vlad, WE WANT EMBER, WE WANT EMBER! Soz. It's such a shame that they put so much work into the song and then they only play the tiny chorus that makes her sound a bit self-obsessed. They should play the full song on the show and explain it's inspiration. I would love to know where the lyrics came from. She must have one hell of a back story. Anyway, enough with my rant. Thank you for the review and I'm honoured that this is your fav.

Oh, just one more thing. I think that in the ghost zone it's a pretty close knit community where everyone knows just about everyone else and they're mostly friends with each other. That comment will clear itself up as you read I promise.

'_blah'_ are thoughts - usually Ember's

And here we go again.

Chapter 7 - An Evil Shadow

Ember's face developed a frown while her eyes remained closed. "It's no use, I can't do it"

"Sweetie, open your eyes"

"What?" the teen opened her eyes to see that the world was gently bobbing up and down, then she looked at her feet. They were floating a few inches from the ground. A smile crashed onto her lips as she screamed with joy "I'M DOING IT!"

"Well done. I think you may be the best student I've ever had. You learnt that much quicker than anyone else I've taught."

Ember floated for a few seconds, wallowing in the glee she felt from her accomplishment, then a thought occurred to her.

"Spectra, how do I land?"

"Oh, that's the really easy part; just bring your energy back out from underneath your feet, the faster you do it, the faster you'll land."

"Okay" Ember concentrated on the energy within herself and brought it out from underneath her feet. As she did she saw that her feet left the air and made contact with the ground again. "I did it" she said as she beamed a smile at the woman in red while the little green blob just snorted and changed into a giant green eagle.

Spectra smiled as she transformed "Well done, now we can take that tour I promised you can't we?" The black form rose into the sky once again, along with the eagle leaving Ember to figure out how to rise into the air and follow them at speed. She found it wasn't quite as hard as she thought it was and in a few minutes she was easily keeping up with her mentors.

Half an hour of flight brought hem over what appeared to be some kind of communal park, not dissimilar to the one that was in the teen's old hometown. She was so busy contemplating the park she nearly didn't notice when her guides dropped out of the air and landed on what appeared for all intents and purposes, to be grass. She landed next to themwhile they transformed back to whatshe assumed were their human forms.She took the time tolook around from her new vantage point. It still looked uncomfortably like the park in her hometown, where she made her debut as Ember the rock star. She didn't have much time to muse on this new revelation as from behindher something crept up and once again yelled in her ear.

"BEWARE!"

She jumped and whirled in an attempt to catch whoever it was who kept tormenting her but once again all she saw was the green black sky and floating purple doors.

"I am getting sick of that" she said before turning to Spectra, looking for an answer "Who is that guy anyway"

"Who, the one who keeps yelling beware?" the teen nodded "We only know him as the box ghost. Don't worry about him, he's harmless, and more of an annoyance than anything else." She stopped then and looked around until she saw a group of people she seemed to know, she waved at them and one waved back. She grabbed Ember's wrist and started to gently pull her toward the group "Come on, I'll make introductions"

She was pulled over to a group of some very odd looking individuals, but again, she wasn't as surprised as she could have been. She was beginning to learn to expect the unexpected in this mad place.

As promised Spectra introduced all of them to her as she pointed them out. The one with the trench coat, the white hair and the sunglasses was called Technus. There was the lunch lady she had meet previously who was called Deloris. Two of the group looked like they were a couple. She was dressed in red,had green hair and red eyes, while he had a long grey coat, blonde hair and green eyes, they were Johnny 13 and Kitten. The woman with the curtain of black hair, red eyes and clothes that looked like they jumped strait form the pages of Arabian Nights was named Desiree and the one with the high tech metal suit and green flames for hair '_wow, flames are a bit of a recurring theme in this place'_ was named Skulker. She already knew the self-proclaimed Box Ghost and Bertrand. Hello's and welcomes were exchanged and for the first time since she had come here, in fact for the first timein at least a year , she felt accepted and welcome.

"What's that on your back?" Desiree asked Ember when she spotted the guitar

"This?" she swung the guitar back round so it was in position for her to play if she wanted. "It's my guitar"

"Are you any good?" Johnny asked, rather bluntly.

"Am I any good?" Ember took two steps back, took a plectrum from the holder that she had added to her guitar shortly after receiving it, and began to perform.

Three and a half minutes later, she stopped and looked at the speechless crowd that had gathered since she had begun. She smiled, embarrassed, and the whole crowd cheered, clapped and those who knew it chanted her name. It was then that she felt it, it felt like a strong breeze had lifted her hair up, and she felt…powerful. As if that little ball inside of her had grown. She closed her eyes and revelled in the feeling while the crowd began to shrink away from her and disperse. She found that the effect stopped as the crowed quietened but she could swear that her hair felt a bit longer when she brought her hand up to the ponytail and inspected it's new length.

"Ember?" a mystery voice interrupted her thoughts. She opened her eyes and focused on the person in front of her. It was the girl with the green hair. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, in fact I feel better than okay, I feel…stronger, more powerful…I don't know why" After her statement Spectra smiled and decided that now would be a good time to give her new charge her next lesson about being Undead.

"Sweetie, do you know what that was?" Spectra asked by way of getting the teen's attention.

Ember turned to the woman who had instructed her since she had arrived "No"

"Unless I'm very much mistaken, that was your powers manifesting"

"My powers?" Ember asked confused, wondering what she meant by powers. She had used that word often since she had started instructing the teen.

By way of an answer, Spectra formed an ectoplasmic blast in her hand.

"So...can the rest of you do that?"

Almost everyone else in the group formed their own blast in their palm.

"Could I?"

"Of course you can, you just need a little more training" Spectra answered for the group, stopping them from teasing her or making her feel bad.

"Is that the only power you guys have or do you all have your own or something?" judging by the looks on their faces she could tell she was about to regret what she had just said. The first person to speak was the man in the long grey trench coat and white hair.

"I AM TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL THINGS TECHNOLOGICAL AND BEEPING, MANIPULATOR OF MACHINES, LORD OF ALL GADGETRY, WIZARD OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITRY, MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESTROYER OF WORLDS!"

When the rant had finished everyone gave him a funny look and turned their attention to the next person to clear their throat and begin. It was the man in the suit.

"I am Skulker, the greatest hunter in all of the Ghost Zone. Do not annoy me whelp, or your pelt will adorn the foot of my bed."

Ember took him at his word and made a mental note to give this guy a wide birth in future.

The one named Desiree spoke next "I am Desiree, I grant the hearts desire"

"So you're a genie then?"

There was a long pause in which a strange look crossed the face of the woman. Then she finally spoke, her voice laced with what sounded like annoyance "I am a genie only in the fact that I grant wishes. I am a free woman, I am not bound or governed by any lamp or the rules of a genie. I may grant as many wishes as I please and may give whatever a person's heart desires."

Ember decided that she had gotten far too many peoples back up since she had arrived, she resolved to think about what she was going to say to the next one before she actually spoke.

The lunch lady named Deloris was the next to speak

"Well dearie…I CONTROL LUNCH, THERE WILL BE NO CHANGING OF THE MENU AND THERE WILL BE MEAT!"

The teenager just blinked her wide eyes and turned hr attention to the next person.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST! I AM MASTER OF ALL THINGS CORREGATED AND SQUARE…" Right about there Ember stopped listening, this was the third time she had meet him and she was already bored of him. Unnoticed by anyone he finished his rant and the group's attention fell onto the next person

Spectra took the podium next.

"I know you already know Bertrand and I, we work in a partnership to suck the misery from humans to keep us looking young"

"You look pretty good to me, how do you get the misery then?"

"We go back to the human world and steal it, mostly from teenagers"

"You can go back!" Ember was incredulous "I had no idea, how long has it been since you went back?"

"I have no idea, it's got to be a few years at least"

"YEARS! How have you managed to stay looking that young then?" she clapped her hands over her mouth as she realised she had once again spoke before she thought. Spectra didn't seem too bothered though, she just smiled before she continued

"In the Ghost Zone time doesn't exist, you could believe you have only been here for what you think is a few months while in the living world it could have been 50 years. While we are here we stay permanently young, when we enter the living world time catches up with us and drains our energy so we have to replenish it"

"So how long have you been here?"

"I honestly have no idea sweetie, but long enough to greet all of the poor souls you see before you"

Ember's jaw fell, she looked at the genie/ghost and her outfit and thought about how many hundreds of years it must have been since _she_ arrived, never mind any of the rest of them.

"How many people have you greeted here?"

"All of them"

"As in all of the people in this group?"

"No, no, I mean all of the people in the Ghost Zone"

There was a stunned silence for a considerable amount of time while the teen processed the information.

"So would that make you…"

"…The oldest ghost here? Yes it does, I have greeted and initially trained all of the spirits in this realm. I help them to discover their powers, then release them. They flourish on their own after that. You my dear, unless I am mistaken, are like me. You feed on emotions, and in your case, I think it's adoration. When people love you, worship you and chant your name, you will probably find that you will grow more powerful"

"Yea, I felt that when I sang for you guys, afterwards, when everyone was cheering, I felt stronger, I think."

"And your hair went mad" the blonde in the long coat standing next to the motorbike finally spoke.

Ember ignored the comment for now and instead decided to ask about his powers, since he and his girlfriend were the only two to not identify themselves

"So what can you guys do then?"

The woman answered first "I can't actually use my own body, I died in a fire and my body was totally cremated, so I use my powers, and my clothes, to take over other peoples bodies and use them as my own."

"I didn't think a ghost needed their body"

"They need it long enough to re-materialise here. After that it doesn't matter what happens to it." The boy answered again.

"Okay, you're the only one who hasn't spilled yet, so come on, what's your power?" Ember asked the boy

"It's easier to show you, Shadow, demo"

She thought he was playing a joke on her because he threw his arm out in what looked like a pretty pathetic gesture. She quickly changed her mind when a black form rose up from beneath him, formed a face complete with fangs and flew at her. She didn't even have time to turn away before it flew strait threw her, and the guitar on her back. She heard a sickly wine and felt what felt like sparks on her shoulder before she spun it back round to inspect it. It looked like it had aged a hundred years in an instant and was very obviously broken, most likely beyond repair.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY GUITAR!"

End of chapter

A/N: FRIGGIN' PLOT BUNNIES. I can't get a moments peace, they refuse to stop biting me no matter how much repellent I put on, or how many cats I set on them. Whatever kind of traps or cages I put out. They still find a way into the computer room to nibble at me, even when I'm an hour away from my computer at school!

Does anyone want a couple? They reproduce so fast and nibble so often that you'll be turning out chapters like it's going out of fashion.

A/N 2: Aren't I evil? What's happened to her guitar, does it ever get fixed, what will she do to Johnny if she can't? these answers and more coming later…

I wanted the lunch lady to have a name, and Deloris suits her. Lol I hope no-body minds, if you do, tell me and I will change it back to an anonymous ghost. I hope you liked it. Gotta go now, my first exam is on the 19th and I haven't ever looked at my revision yet, the updates may get more erratic until the 6th of June but after that I'll be relatively free. Until January anyway when I have to go through this dog and pony show again.

AWW! Damn BUNNIES!

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe, no matter what your faith or beliefs.


	8. Aftermath and Conversations

Chapter 8 – Aftermath and Conversations

Hiya. I hope you guys aren't getting too bored with this.

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: well if she doesn't kill him she's gonna try really hard lol. Thank you for the review.

cakreut12: I'm sorry, I must have given you one of my random bunnies, the one that gives me random ideas for new stories instead of one of the ones that gives me ideas for continuing existing stories. Would you like a different one? Thank you for reviewing.

Rizzleberry: That episode has to be one of my favorite DP episodes as well, but living in Germany I haven't seen anything more recent than 13 on Nicktoons, not even Fright Night! Thank you very much for the review, you are very generous with your compliments, I hope you like the rest of the story.

Thanks for sticking with me, this fic has given me the most reviews for one story I have had to date. Thank you very much. I love you all.

'_Blah'_ is thoughts

Chapter 8 – Aftermath and Conversations

Everyone in the park went silent. They looked from the thoroughly pissed off teenager, to the young man and back again, trying to see which would break eyes contact or move first. Ember made the first move; she threw her precious guitar down on the ground, then stomped over to the boy, balling her fist in preparation to hit him. She stopped in front of him and was retracting her arm when the voice said "I think I can fix this"

She stopped dead. There was a collective disappointed sigh as she put her hand back down by her side and turned to the voice. Skulker was standing where she had been moments before. He was holding her guitar in his hands, turning it over, inspecting it.

"What do you mean" Ember asked without moving from her place before the boy who had caused the initial damage.

The metallic man turned his glowing green eyes on the owner of the guitar in his hands before he replied "I do not think this is beyond repairing, if you wish I could tak3e it to my lair and fix it for you"

Ember remained where she was, not quite sure whether to trust this man. She looked over to Spectra who looked back at her and nodded. While Ember still didn't completely trust her, she trusted her more than she did anyone else here, and if she said it was alright, then it probably was. Besides that, it wasn't as if he could make it worse anyway. "Yes please" she finally answered.

"I should be able to fix it within a week. I will bring it back to you when it is complete" he turned and walked away, and before Ember could shout, asking him how he would find her he had disappeared. As if she were reading her thoughts, Spectra said

"Don't worry sweetie, we'll find you somewhere to live, then he can bring it to you there."

Ember turned away from the boy, who she had momentarily forgotten, and walked back over to Spectra who smiled and encouraged her to talk to the rest of the people left in the group while she and Bertrand went to collect another new arrival. She decided it wouldn't be such a bad idea so, remembering a comment that had been made just after her performance, she rounded on the first person she could think of.

"Johnny?" she asked, her voice still holding a touch of the anger she felt for him about breaking her precious guitar.

"Yea"

"After I finished singing you said my hair went mad, what did you mean?"

"Just that while everyone was cheering your hair kinda, I don't know, stood up"

"Stood up?" an almost comically confused look crossed the teen's face.

"Yea, it stood up" The girl next to Johnny answered this time "it looked a lot like a flame, except it wasn't red, it was blue"

Ember thought about this for a while and realised that she had felt her hair do something, she would have to check next time it happened. As she looked around at the gathered people she found something else that puzzled her, there seemed to be only two eye colours, neon green and blood red.

"Desiree?"

"What does your heart desire?" the genie asked

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask, what colour were your eyes before you came here?"

"Brown"

"And have you noticed that they're red now?"

"Of course I have, I have been here for many years"

"Why did they change then?"

There was a long pause while she contemplated the question. She had never really questioned why her eyes had changed. "To be honest, I've never really thought about it, I just assumed it was part of the process of crossing over. Whether I wished it or not." Desiree answered.

Ember then turned to another person in the group and repeated her questions.

"Technis"

"Yes child?"

She balked at the name and narrowed her eyes at the man in the trench coat before continuing "What colour were your eyes when you were alive?"

"Electric blue…"

Just as he was about to start another rant she cut him off with a curt, 'thank you and proceeded to ask everyone else. She found every one of them had had their eyes change colour when they arrived, to either red or green. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Kitty" the girl looked in her direction "What colour are my eyes?"

"Green" she replied "same as Spectra's"

'_Great, my hair, my eyes, my skin, my heartbeat, what else is gonna change here?'_

End of Chapter

I'm sorry this one took so long but I had my first exam yesterday and I was too busy with that to concentrate on this. I have two (technically three but two are on the same day so I count them together) more exams next week, then half term break, then the last two are on the day I get back from half term. Then I'm relatively free and should have more time to write. I say should 'cause we will probably start on the A2 courses strait away and that will most likely mean homework.

Anyway, enough with my sorry excuses. The chapter's here and the rest will follow when they can. I promise. I don't intend to abandon this fic.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe.

Anawiel


	9. Painful Memories

Hiya guys, got even more news, this fic is defiantly going to exceed 10 chapters, don't know how much by but it's defiantly gonna happen. Thank you for sticking with it and I apologise for the randomness of the updates. I don't usually write fics like this, normally I write the entire story before posting any of it, that way if I get bored halfway through and decide to stop,the only person who is disappointed is me.

Thank you to my reviewer

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: that is indeed where it came from, I just thought that the guitar obviously wouldn't have those buttons while she was alive…I don't think any guitatr has :p I agree, I think Johnny was very lucky indeed. Thanx for reviewing.

Once again _'Blah'_ are thoughts

Chapter 9 – Painful Memories

Ember remained in the park for over 3 hours, swapping stories and generally learning a lot about her new friends. She found that Spectra had been right, no one remembered their actual death, but they all remembered the last few minutes of their lives, just like her. She learned what life was like for all of them before they had died. All in all she had a very informative time before Spectra returned alone to take her away to find somewhere to 'live'.

They flew for a few minutes before Ember decided to break the silence.

"Spectra"

"Yes Sweetheart"

"Where's the new arrival?" This question seemed to catch her off guard for a few minutes and silence descended. Ember was about to ask again when Spectra finally answered.

"With Bertrand"

"I thought you trained everyone"

"I have given him his initial training, I'm just gonna find you a place to live, then I'll go back and get him"

"Why didn't you bring him?"

"He asked not to be"

"Why?"

"I don't know sweetheart but some people prefer to be left alone for the first few hours after getting here, help themselves adjust"

Ember decided that she wouldn't get any answers with this roundabout questioning, so she let the matter drop _'for now'_ and they flew on for a few more minutes in an uncomfortable silence, this time it was Spectra who was the one to break it.

"You have a very unusual name sweetheart…"

"Don't call me that" Ember cut her off shortly and slightly more forcefully than she had intended.

"…Why not" Spectra was curious, that had sounded painful.

Ember considered answering for a long time, then finally stopped moving, adjusted herself from a horizontal flying position into a vertical floating position and just floated in the air, waiting for Spectra to turn around and come back. When she did, the teen rocker looked her in the eyes, sighed and said

"There was a boy. Just before I died the last boy I went out with really hurt me. He had been my friend since we were five years old, then after I hit it big he told me he loved me and I believed him. So we spent the night together. When I woke up he was gone, and he never called me again. He was part of the reason I…" she trailed off, assuming the woman in red could fill in the blanks. The confession hung in the air with them for a few uncomfortable seconds before Spectra spoke again.

"So what does that have to do with me calling you sweetheart?"

The teen looked into her eyes once again and answered "That was what he used to call me"

Understanding dawned in the woman's bright green eyes before curiosity took over.

"Do you mind if I ask what his name was?"

Ember looked angry for a second before answering in a voice that was as cold as her own heart "Ash"

There was a definite look of surprise on Spectra's face when Ember mentioned the name, almost a look of recognition, as if the last piece of a puzzle had dropped into place in her mind. And it wasn't lost on the teen.

"What?"

Spectra put on her best beauty pageant winners smile before she asked "What What?"

Ember decided that she probably couldn't articulate the thoughts that had entered her head, so she dropped the matter "Nothing" she dropped back into a horizontal position and resumed flying, waiting for Spectra to overtake her and lead her to her new home. She did so in a manner of seconds and they resumed in silence for a few more minutes until Spectra remembered what had started off the conversation in the first place.

"About your name swe…Ember" she caught herself just before she said again.

"What about it" she ignored the slip, putting it down to senile dementure or force of habit.

"It's just that it's so unusual, I was wondering where you got it"

"My parents" she deadpanned

"You're a funny girl you know that, okay then, _why_ did you get it"

A pained look crossed the teens lovely face briefly before she answered, thinking about her parents hurt after her experiences in the past year. "My mum told me it was because when I was born my hair was so red she thought it was on fire, so she called me Ember"

Spectra looked over her shoulder at the ten flying two feet behind her and gave her a critical glance "You know, I couldn't imagine you with red hair, jade suits you better"

The conversation dropped of there and they flew the rest of the way in periods of silence broken only by half hearted attempts at conversation. Finally they stopped at a rather inconspicuous looking door. It didn't look any different than the rest of the ones she had flown past all day but apparently it was because Spectra stood next to it proudly and indicated that she should go in. With a little trepidation sand hesitancy Ember turned the knob and stepped inside.

As with Spectra's home, what she got was not what she was expecting. It was a plain room, with a 3, 2, 1 couch system and a coffee table in the middle of the room, a display cupboard in the corner and bare walls. She walked in and inspected the place before she spotted another door. She looked at Spectra to ask if she could look in it, when the woman in red nodded the teen opened the door and found herself faced with what could only be described as a carbon copy of her own bedroom, except there were no clothes lying around on the floor and no posters on the wall, but the furniture was an exact match, it was even sitting in the same positions. The astonishment lasted for a few seconds; these kinds of occurrences were becoming the norm in this place.

Ember was standing transfixed for so long Spectra had to pretend to cough to get her attention. "Well, I think I'll just leave you to get settled, I have to go see to the new boy, if you need me just go to the park and ask for me, someone will come get me" without waiting for a response the scarlet woman turned on her heal and was out the door and away, leaving Ember alone in her new home to settle.

End of Chapter

There we go, another one done, slightly sooner than the last one and it's half term next week so I have the time to write (when I'm not revising)

Thank you for reading

Please review, I like to know how I'm doing

May the angels bless you and keep you safe.

Anawiel.


	10. Shopping

Hiya, I'm so sorry this took so long but I have been revising for my last exam tomorrow (Thank the Lord) and I haven't found the time (or to be honest, the inclination) to write this until recently, but it's done now, and I will continue with it. School starts back again tomorrow and as I said before, I seem to write better in school when I should be working on something else.

Once again I would like to thank my reviewer:

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: did I make it that obvious? Well done for figuring it out. If all goes to plan, I should be able to get a picture of him up on the internet soon. Thank you for reviewing and well done on your detective skills, have you considered going into law enforcement ; ) Thank you for the review.

By the way, to anyone who is interested, I have a picture of Ash on my computer that I am trying hard to color in but my computer thinks it is hysterical and refuses to remain on for more than about 20 minutes, at which point I get a B.S.O.D. and the stupid thing has to be unplugged before it will shut down. I will eventually finish coloring it in and post it up; I will put a link up for you if you are interested in seeing what he looks like.

05/06/05:well, I managed to get the stupid computer to behave, there is a picture of Ash here: http/ www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 19110649/ except without the spaces obviously

Thanks for sticking with me on this and giving me your support, it means the world to me.

Again _'Blah' _are Ember's thoughts

Chapter 10 - Shopping

Due to her most recent experiences in the ghost zone, Ember didn't feel much like venturing out into the mad world that had been identified to her as the Ghost Zone, so she remained in the home she had been given by Spectra.

She had done some more exploring and found there was a room which seemed to serve as a bathroom with a separate bath and shower, a kitchen and, to her great delight, she found in a drawer in the living room that someone had left a jumbo pad of paper, some pens and pencils, erasers and pencil sharpeners.

It was only when she sat down on the couch to try to write a song that she remembered her guitar was gone. That smug boy with the motorbike had broken it, and he hadn't even apologized. _'I'm going to go off that boy very quickly'. _

She had always been a creative and resourceful girl though, so she sat down with the paper and pens and wrote lyrics instead. She fit the music around them in her head as she went, and wrote it down on a separate piece of paper, resolving herself to combine the two on her guitar later _'If that creepy Skulker guy manages to fix it and get it back to me that is'_

Not long after she had finished the new song, which took longer than usual in her opinion, her stomach decided that, despite the fact it was dead, it was still empty and wanted to complain. She made a mental note to ask about why she should be hungry when she's dead, and wondered mutely into the kitchen for a more thorough examination of the cupboards and what appeared at first glance to be a fridge.

Seven minutes later she stomped out, cursing under what would have been her breath, and plopped herself back onto the three-seater couch where she had left her new song. For the next hour she wondered around her new flat, exploring, poking in various nooks and crannies and listening to her stomach whine. Eventually the repetitive noise got to be too much for her so she reasoned with herself that if she was going to be in this place for a long time, she may as well get out and explore it.

She checked her pockets and found, to her great surprise, the money she had left in them was still there. _'While I'm out exploring, I might as well try to find some food' _she also managed to convince herself.She crossed the now familiar living room to the front door, opened it and looked out. She was glad she had looked out before taking a step because she would have landed with yet another almighty bump if she had. She found that her new flat was now floating a few dozen feet from the ground as opposed to being level with it when she had arrived.

Cautiously she 'stepped' out into the air and closed her door behind her, checking immediately afterwards that it hadn't locked behind her. She floated in mid air for ten minutes after that, studying her door, committing it to memory. When she had finished she turned and studied her, for want of a better term, neighborhood, so she could at least attempt to find her way back here, noting at the same time that there didn't seam to be any transition from day to night here.

Finally, when she felt marginally confident that she could find this place again, she slowly began to fly away from the door, making a mental note of the landscape as she flew over it, committing what she could to memory for the return journey. She flew over many more doors and not a few people, going about what appeared to be their day-to-day business, she became engrossed in watching them, until her grumbling stomach reminded her of her original intentions when she began this flight.

Finally, she spotted what she thought looked to her like a general shop where she might be able to find food, or what passed for it here. She spiraled down close to the ground then landed, still not comfortable enough to just drop out of the sky as she had seen others do, and walked into the relatively large shop. She was immediately confronted with dozens of unfamiliar faces who all seemed to take at least a passing interest in her, then return to their shopping. Tactfully she ignored them, putting it down to the fact that she was new, and therefore, a curiosity to the locals, some of whom may have been here for hundreds of years for all she knew.

She picked up a basket from the front of the shop and proceeded to wonder around the many isles, picking up anything that looked appetizing to her and placing it in the basket. When she had mentally added up the totals and concluded that she had just about spent the money she had found, she walked over to where she thought the checkout would be. She found it in the normal place _'that's about the only relatively normal thing in this place so far' _and got in line. She was too busy daydreaming about her 'life' before and after she came to this place to notice what everyone in front of her was doing, so she simply put her purchases on the conveyer belt and bagged them as they wet through the scanner, directed by the hand of the ghost girl sitting behind the register.

When the last item was scanned and bagged, she reached into her pocket for the money and brought it out, waiting to be told the total. When the girl looked round at her to inquire as to why she was still standing there, she glimpsed the money and chuckled before she said

"You can put that away, you won't need it here" she was given a puzzled look from the girl with the jade hair, so she continued with her explanation "here in the Ghost Zone we don't use money because no-one has jobs. We have a computer system that keeps track of what everyone buys and we all have a limit to what we can have, kinda like rations."

The teen nodded as she began to understand so the girl continued with her explanation "Since we don't have money we need a way to track when someone has reached their limit, so instead we have points, everything costs a certain amount of points, and when you have reached the limit for that week, you can't buy anymore"

The jade haired teen continued to nod, before asking, "So what is the limit?"

"500 points a week, if you don't use them all up, they carry over to the next week, but it's all computerized, you can't take any points out in a physical way, the way you could with money. You can only find out how much you have by looking on these machines that work the same way as ATMs do in the living world."

Ember nodded, she had seen one of them on the wall outside before she had come in "So how do I get an account?"

"Oh don't worry about that"

"Why not?" Ember asked curiously and with a little anger. This was the way she had been treated when she was famous, as if she was somehow above society. And she hated it.

"Spectra sorts all of that out when you arrive"

A look of relief passed over the tens face as the girl answered. "So how many points did I just use?"

"Only 25, don't worry you have plenty left" the girl beamed. Ember sighed with relief, pocketed the money she had, picked u her bags and left the shop while throwing a smile over her shoulder for the girl.

When she got outside again she took off and spun in the air in the direction she had originally come from, heading back to her home.

End of Chapter

A/N: I Know, I know, they're dead, why should they have to eat? Well…I thought about that and realized, after Danny used his powers in 'Mystery Meat' he became totally exhausted so that's where the idea for them using up their energy came from. That and I'm a huge Dragonball Z fan and I know that when they use up their energy in battle they are totally cream crackered after it and need to replenish their energy, and the best way is with sleep or food, lots and lots of food. I think that the ghost's and DBZ characters powers come from the same place basically, so that's why they still get hungry.

I assume they eat because, again using an episode for reference, in 'Prisoners of Love' when Danny was in jail, the ghosts were served a meal (did anyone else notice that?) and the riot stared in the dining area shortly after that. I assume if they are given food and a place to eat it, then they probably need it, but it's not to live on, it's to replenish their energy otherwise they would burn out.

I don't think they have money because no-one seems to have jobs (except Walker but he appears to me to do it out of pleasure rather than for money) so therefore, they wouldn't have money. That's why the food is free, since it's a basic necessity but it is rationed and a record of what they buy is kept on computers, that's why things are still scanned. (If that makes any sense)

And I know they have power of some kind because in 'Prisoners of Love' Danny walked into the lair of something that was watching T.V. but I am too tired to try and work that one out, so I will let that one lie

If you have any more questions, comments or little nitpicks you would like to have answered, feel free to leave a review containing them and I will be happy to try and make up an answer for something I may have forgotten about (: P)

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe.

Anawiel


	11. Many Many More Questions

Hiya, I've not had a great week couple of weeks. I'm sick, my sister was in hospital with a broken arm after falling off a horse (the durbrain), but she's out now, and we are being forced into writing a cookbook in school and I REALLY can't be bothered with it. I would like to thank my reviewers, but there was only one, so that makes it a lot easier:

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: thank you for reviewing, I love your stories and your pictures. You are very talented in many ways, never loose that.

And thank you to anyone who has read this, or any of my other stories, even if you haven't reviewed. I would also like to thank everyone who has author alerted me on put me on their favorites list, it gives me a really warm glow deep down inside to know that people like what I am writing.

I'm sorry this took so long, but I haven't been able to find the inclination deep within myself to continue, I'm sorry to say that I'm not as passionate about this story now as I was when I started, I almost have to force myself to write. Don't worry though, I don't intend to discontinue, I don't want to disappoint anyone, I know myself that there is nothing worse than really getting into a story only to get to the end of a chapter and realize that the author has given up, and you will never know what happened. I will soldier on, but the updates will become really random, so I would like to apologize in advance for that. But, to try and make it up, here's a ridiculously long chapter…

Chapter 11 – Many many more questions

To her great surprise, Ember found that she was able to recognize the places she was flying over, which obviously meant that she was heading in the right direction. After ten minutes, the time it took her to get from her house to the shop in the first place, she found that she was indeed back in her 'neighborhood' and just in front of her she could recognize her door. Once again it had shifted it's position in the air, it was now several feet lower than it had been when she left, but it was defiantly the same door.

With a proud smile on her face she flew to the door, rearranged the bags in her arms to free up one of her hands so she could open it, flew through, closed the door with a kick behind her, landed and continued in the kitchen in one swift, graceful move.

She put the bags on one of the worktops and proceeded to unpack, organize and assign everything it's place on the shelves, in the fridge or in the cupboards. When she was finished, she demolished her beautiful organization job by searching for something that appealed to her taste buds at that moment.

She settled on something quick and easy, beans on toast as it happened, prepared her gourmet meal, took into the living room with her and sat on one of the couches. While she was perched eating her meal, she saw, for the first time, that she had a T.V. Gleefully she placed the plate on the seat next to her and walked over to it, were she found that the remote was sitting on top of it. She flicked it on and proceeded back to the couch to finish eating while watching whatever was on and pondering where it had come from _'I'm sure it wasn't there when I left'_

When she had finished she returned the newly purchased plate to the kitchen, washed it and replaced it in the cupboard. She returned to the living room _'ha, the irony, I have my own living room now that I'm dead'_

After an hour of wondering round, watching T.V. and growing increasingly bored, she decided she would like to ask Spectra a few questions, like why she still got hungry, and if flying was the extent of her 'powers' so once again she left her comfortable position on the sofa, crossed the room to the front door and left, being careful to check how high off the ground she now was.

Once again she took to the air in an attempt to find the park she had been brought to upon her initial arrival. After much searching, many wrong turns and a few queries of some of the residents, Ember finally managed to find that same park where her guitar was brutally murdered and then kidnapped. She didn't feel like asking for Spectra right away as the last time she was there she hadn't had the opportunity to explore the vast park. She spent an hour walking slowly in the beautiful park, despite her assumption, there were plants in bloom all over and in the very centre there was a huge fountain which shot what seemed to be water 20 feet into the air. The flowers drew her attention for their color, they all seemed to be familiar breads such as roses, lilies, daffodils and such, but they were all the wrong color. Everywhere she looked all she could see was black, blood red, green, purple and white. Even the soil was black _'well, another point for this weirdo place, at least the plants are agree with my outlook on the world'_

Eventually, when she thought she had explored as much as she could for one day, she remembered why she came her in the first place. She turned to go and find someone who could get a message to Spectra, only to literally bump into the very woman herself.

"I'm sorry swee…" she was stopped by a glare from the teen before her.

"That's alright, I wanted to come and talk to you anyway, I have a few questions…"

"Okay, let's go answer them then" before she could finish her sentence, Spectra whisked the girl off to a bench a few meters away, sat her down and expected something really deep and meaningful, the kind of question she would usually get from her new arrivals at around about this time in their after-life.

"Why do I still feel hungry if I'm dead?"

If she hadn't been sitting already she would have fallen over, Ember was the first spirit ever to ask about that, and she didn't quite have an answer ready, so she took a few moments to figure one out.

"Well...I don't know if you've noticed, but using our powers really drains us"

"Yea, I have noticed"

"The reason you feel that drain is that you're literally being drained as you use your powers to achieve flight" when she was met with a look that said "WTF?" she continued, deciding to explain more full what she meant.

"Do you remember that little ball of light inside of you" the teen nodded. "you remember that I told you it was the source of all your power" again a nod "well as you fly that ball deteriorates little by little, in direct correlation to the abilities you are using, the faster you fly, the faster the ball burns away. If the ball burns out, you will pass out until it can regenerate itself."

"O…kaaayy, so what does that have to do with feeling hungry?"

"Well…why did you need to eat when you were alive?" Spectra asked, once again adopting the tone of voice usually reserved for children under five and the mentally infirm.

Ember viably bristled "To keep myself from dying?" she answered, mimicking Spectra's tone.

"And…"

"And what"

"_When _did you usually eat"

"When I was hungry"

"Or…"

"Or what, you're the one who is supposed to be telling me the answers" Ember had risen to her feet in her anger and pointed an accusing finger at the woman in red who was still sitting on the bench, her everlasting smile still plastered to her face.

"Did you notice that when you were tired, food made you feel more awake and alert?"

"Yea…" Ember answered, calming down enough to sit back down next to her mentor.

"I'm sure you already know this, but that was because you used up the energy you gained from your food during the day, which made you tired. The same principal works here, except it's not your muscles demanding the energy, because you're dead, now it's that little ball that needs it. That's why you will find that you still need to sleep and eat, to replenish that little ball"

Comprehension dawned and the girl with the jade hair smiled for a brief second before she thought of another question. "Spectra, is flying the limit to my powers, or is there more?"

"There's much more"

She hesitated before she broached her next question "Would you teach me?"

The red haired woman's face lit up "Of course I will" she beamed "when do you want to start?"

"As soon as possible…please"

Her lips lost their smile as she seemed to consider this for a few seconds, then it returned as she answered "How's right now sound?"

Ember's face sported a smile to match Spectra's "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am, I wouldn't have offered otherwise"

"But don't you have other people to greet?"

"Not today, there were only two arrivals today and, they're both here, so I've got the rest of the day off."

"Okay, so….what's first?"

"I thought we would start with…intangibility"

"What's that?" Ember immediately regretted asking that question as a huge grin spread itself across the older woman's lips.

"I'll show you..."

Four hours later a battered and exhausted teenager floated up to her door and attempted to put her lessons into practice. She concentrated, closed her eyes, and flew as fast as she could at the door. She felt a cold sensation pass all the way through her body as she phased through the door, but before she could celebrate, she crashed into something large and very solid. She opened her eyes to find herself in a tangled heap on her living room floor having tripped over the sofa. She remained where she was for a few moments, just enjoying the feeling of doing nothing and staring at the ceiling.

Eventually she rolled herself over and gathered her legs under her. She stood up with a satisfied grin on her face as she realized that she had indeed managed to do that intangibility thingie and flown through her door. As if on cue, her stomach gave a massive growl, telling her had used far too much energy today and needed to replenish it. Immediately she wondered back into the kitchen and made herself something. She didn't even bother to bring it back out to the couch, she merely stood in the kitchen and ate it before throwing the plate in the sink and promising herself she would wash it the next day.

Exhausted, she made her way out of her kitchen and into the bedroom, collapsing onto the bed and falling asleep as she muttered about getting up in a minute and getting changed for bed. She fell asleep thinking about the lessons Spectra had offered her and what they might entail.

End of Chapter

Ha Ha, cliffie, aren't I EVIL? I want to continue this, for my own sake if nothing else, 'casue it's good for the soul to finish what you start, and I already have many stories cluttering up my computer that have been started and left to rot, the poor things.

Next update will be I don't know when, but there will be more story. I promise.

Reviews are greatly appreciated and welcomed.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel


	12. The Meaning of Death

Hiya guys, I seem to have found my inspiration for the time being, but be warned, somehow this chapter got very deep and very morbid while I was writing it. I don't know what happened, it just kinda flowed out of me. Maybe it's my sub-conscious trying to make up for not writing this fic as often as I should be. Well whatever the reason, it's written I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 12 – The Meaning of Death

A few days later Ember found herself in the park once again, trying to dodge or deflect the ectoplasmic energy blasts being thrown her way by a feminine form clad entirely in black flames. Since that first day in the Ghost Zone, Ember and Spectra had spent as much of their free time as they could training together. Ember had progressed a lot in the short time she had been trained, she could now fly three times as fast as she used to be able to, she could form and shoot ectoplasmic blasts, go invisible and intangible. Today's training session was donated to defense, rather than offence.

For the past two and a half hours Spectra had been shooting anything and everything she could at Ember in an attempt to make her block them. For the first hour Ember had suffered many blows to her body before Spectra has been kind enough to tell her how to block, since then very few of the blasts had gotten through.

Masterfully Ember dodged and blocked the numerous blasts coming at her until she saw an opening, then she dropped her shield and lunged, a ball of energy formed in her hand. Just as she released it the ebony figure before her disappeared. Ember floated stunned at what her mentor had done. Then, collecting herself, she began to spin in a circle trying to locate Spectra before Spectra located her and struck first.

She was too preoccupied with looking around that she forgot to look up. Her adversary didn't even make a sound as she gathered her energy to her palm and fired at the teen with the jade hair. The only warning Ember got was the growing amount of light from above and behind her, her eyes flew wide as she span towards the light. The ball of energy hit her square in the chest and sent her flying back 10 feet into a tree.

"Okay, I think that will do for today" Spectra said as she landed and transformed back into the less imposing façade of a young businesswoman. She waked over to where her charge was sitting, her back supported by the tree and her eyes closed. When her shadow fell on the teen, Ember opened her eyes, smiled and held out her hand for assistance in getting back up. Spectra complied, took hold of Ember's hand and helped to pull her to her feet before leading her over to a nearby bench where she had stashed a bag with their lunch in it. Ember smiled gratefully as she accepted one of the sandwiches offered to her and sat on the bench next to older woman who had begun to eat her own sandwich.

The two sat in silence, Spectra contemplating what the next training session would hold while Ember watched the other inhabitants of the park. Her gaze fell on a particular group who looked as if they really didn't belong there. Everywhere she looked, she could see groups of small children, all easily under the age of eight, running around playing happily with their friends. Something about that bothered her. She swallowed her mouthful before tuning her gaze back to her mentor who had already stopped eating and was just sitting waiting for the question she knew was forming in the teen's head.

"Spectra, why is the world so unfair?"

"In what way?"

"Why do children as young as them…" she indicated with a tilt of her head "…have to die, it just seems so unfair to me"

"I'm not sure to be honest; I've heard people having this sort of discussion in this very park. Some think it has something to do with Karma, that they were spectacularly bad in a previous life, so they didn't get the chance to live very long in that one to make up for the negative energy they poured into the universe. Some are less philosophical and say that it was because they didn't have very good parents if they could leave they're child alone in the house to pull that kettle on top of themselves. Some like to think that they died so young to stop them from encountering the evils of the world, so they think that whatever entity they call God was actually being very fair to them. I tend to go with that last one, the rest just sound awful to me."

Ember fell silent after Spectra's speech and went back to eating her hard-earned sandwich before another thought hit her. Once again, she swallowed and waited for Spectra to finish before giving voice to this new comment.

"Do you know how they died?" she asked the woman, knowing that she would have been the one to introduce them into the Ghost Zone, and with them being as young as they were they must have needed a parental figure for quite some time, they might have confided in her.

"I know how some of them died, yes. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just being morbid; could you tell me how the ones you know about died?"

"I know that a couple of them did have horrendous parents who did leave them alone in the house to get up to all sorts. Some set the house on fire by accident, some drowned in the bath while their parents were on the phone, or in the river when they went wondering on their own. Some got into cupboards that they shouldn't have and ate or drank something poisonous. Some where abducted and killed, some were victims of their own parents' frustrations, whether it was over a manner of years or one cruel incident."

"How can you call any of that fair?" Ember asked, almost under her breath while keeping her gaze fixed on the children who were playing happily on the Ghost Zone's version of grass. Spectra heard it though, and spoke once again to try to bring the teen's mind from such a morbid topic.

"Not all of them died like that, some of them died with their families, I think that's fair on the child because then the family never has to be broken apart. I've seen it Ember, I've seen what happens when the parent or young child dies. The parent goes mad, whether they are here or on the living plain, and the child never really gets over the shock of either dying or being left without a parent, neither one can be healed until they are reunited here."

Ember nodded and continued to watch the children playing. Then something flew in front of her, obscuring her vision for a brief few seconds. She had seen them everywhere. They looked like a little tiny comet, a ball of light with a clear tail, shot through with all the colors of the rainbow. They reminded her of the bubbles children like to blow with washing up liquid and wands. (A/N: FFX fans think pyreflies) once more, she shifted her bright green eyes to Spectra and asked another of her questions.

"Spectra, what are they?" she asked as she indicated one of the little comets

"That is the result of a soul never being housed in a body"

"What?"

"Those particular souls must have never found a body" Spectra explained with the patience of a saint.

"I don't understand, how could they have never found a body"

"A soul is only pared with a body in the womb. The body must have died before the soul had a chance to inhabit it."

"So what, are they the souls of unborn children?" Ember asked stunned

"Got it in one, those are the souls of the children who were the victims of abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth, poor souls"

"Literally"

Spectra smiled a little at the observation and went back to eating and periodically watching the teen sharing the bench and her lunch with her. Amazement crept into her mind at just how deep this teen was, but then again, it wasn't all that surprising considering the fact that she wrote all of her own songs while she was alive, and even continued to do so after her death. Spectra knew she was still writing because she was the one who kept leaving notepads in her home for Ember to find and fill with her thoughts.

Ember just sat for the rest of lunch, content to dwell on the information Spectra had given her and watch the children, trying to work out how some of them could have met such a violent end and still continue to play as if nothing had happened. Fifteen minutes later student and teacher finished their lunch stood to say their farewells in unison.

"So, same time tomorrow then?" Ember asked hopefully, she had improved greatly over the week and was keen to continue.

"Maybe not same time, could you come about an hour later than usual, I have a couple of new arrivals I need to take care of"

"Yea okay, see you then" Ember raised her hand, gave a quick wave and took to the sky, heading to the store for more supplies as she had almost run out of food, her pens and pencils were hanging on by a thread and she was getting bored of the same clothes day in day out. She had saved up enough credit for a new top at least.

She came home later that night, the shopping taking longer than she had expected as she had spotted a beautiful strap for her guitar to replace the one that stupid Shadow had destroyed, and had therefore found herself with a dilemma, the strap or the clothes as she couldn't afford both. She had settled on the strap.

She opened the door to her house, which she now had no problems finding no matter where it decided to drift itself away to. She placed her bags of shopping on the carpet just inside the door and was about to flick the lights on when she was confronted with the shadow of something very large with glowing green eyes who was holding some kind of weapon in it's hand.

End of chapter

Wow, that big philosophical discussion has just totally drained me, I think I need to go try to bring my creativity levels back up before I can continue with anything. I've had the ending written for about three chapters but never managed to bring the story to that point and I really wanted to put it in instead of leaving it for another chapter. And I wanted a proper cliffie, though I bet some people can guess what's in her apartment. The rest will just have to wait until I can be inclined to write the next part.

Thanks for reading, reviews, comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated

May the Angels Bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel


	13. The Return of the Strings

Hiya guys, back with chapter 13. If all goes according to plan and I don't use too many big words where diminutive ones will suffice this story should go on for maybe 5 more chapters' tops. By then I should have thrashed out all of my ideas and be ready for a nice long break away from writing.

I hope you like this.

Chapter 13 - The Return of the Strings (lol)

The shadow advanced on her and she screamed and took a step back, forgetting that she had neglected to close the door and disappeared below the doorframe as her foot connected with nothing but empty air. Before she could hit the ground she collected herself and exerted her energy on her environment. She floated for a second before shooting back up to her door, a ball of ectoplasm ready in her hand. She landed just inside the doorway and flicked on the light, wanting to hit the shadow rather than anything of the few meager possessions she had managed to amass since her arrival.

The harsh white light blinked on, blinding the two occupants of the space for a second. When her vision corrected itself Ember prepared to take aim, but dissipated the energy as she recognized the bulky shadow, and more importantly, she identified the weapon in its hand.

"Skulker" she breathed as she relaxed her muscles "don't do that to me you sacred me to…"

"…Death, I think it's a little late for that" the large metal man grinned at his own joke while Ember just rolled her eyes and waited for him to speak again. When he didn't, she took the initiative, her indignation of being scared out of her wits in her own home, and her lingering embarrassment of falling out of the door outweighing any potential ramifications from her planned tirade

"How the hell did you find me anyway? And what were you doing sitting in my house in the dark? And what gives you the right to just barge into peoples homes whenever you feel like?"

Skulker just stood and stared at the fuming teen before he spoke "Finished?"

"For now"

"Right, in order, Spectra, waiting for you to get home and I am the greatest bounty hunter the ghost zone has ever known. That's what gives me the right. That and I came to deliver this" He presented the object in his hand to Ember "so I assumed that since it seemed to be so precious to you, you wouldn't mind if I sat in the dark waiting for you to get home, rather that leave it outside your door and assume it would still be there when you got back."

Contented with his logic and grateful that he would bother to be considerate enough to be certain that she got it back she was able to ignore the way in which he went about being certain and instead focused on the object he held in his hand. Gratefully she relieved him of the relatively heavy burden and strode over to the couch where she sat on the far left, right next to the arm. She placed her beautifully repaired guitar on her lap with the head nearly touching the arm of the couch. (Since she had yet to attach the new strap and the old one had completely disintegrated when the original damage had been done so she couldn't remain standing and play it anymore.)

Gingerly she ran her fingers over the stings and winced at how horribly out of tune it was. As she reached for a plectrum in the holder that (thankfully) was still attached to the side of her precious pink and turquoise guitar to help her tune it, she noticed a new addition to the bottom. As well as the original switches for volume and to choose between electric and bass, there was another switch. This one had many more options than the two it sat next too, and the options looked a lot more interesting than the ones that were already there. She ran a finger over the new symbols and felt the couch underneath her shift. She looked up to see Skulker sitting a respectful distance from her but close enough to touch the newly renovated guitar.

"I took the liberty of making additions to the original structure. I assumed you wouldn't mind as you are so weak and you need all the help you need if you intend to survive here."

Ember visibly bristled at the insult. She almost had to literally bite her tongue before she bit his head off. _'Revenge is a dish best served cold. Wait until you're stronger, then prove him wrong' _"So what is this thing for then?" she decided on the safer option, for her and anyone else she might bump into. She didn't want to do anything nasty to herself or others in her attempts to figure out what the new button was for.

"This one" he pointed to the purple circles that reminded Ember of ripples in a lake "is a mind control spell, it brings everyone who hears it under your influence until you lift it or another manages to break it, but that is very hard to do"

Ember nodded.

"This one" he pointed to the blue fist "is an offensive spell. It will produce a large fist which will indiscriminately cause physical damage to anything in its path."

Again the teen nodded

"This one" he pointed to the pink heart "is a love spell. It will make anybody who hears it fall in love with the second person they see, as the first will most likely be you and that would make the spell obsolete"

By now Ember was beginning to feel like one of those comical nodding dogs some people had in the back of their cars

"And this one" he pointed to the last symbol on the circuit, it was a red music note and the one on which the guitar was currently set "just lets you play the instrument." He finished rather anticlimactically.

When his explanation was finished he rose, as if to leave, and crossed the room to the door. It was then that Ember spotted the last symbol, the one that Skulker had, conveniently, forgotten to mention.

"Skulker"

The large metallic specter turned back towards her when he was half way across her living room. "What"

"What's this one for?" she asked as she indicated the green skull.

"You don't want to know"

"So why did you put it there"

"You don't want to know. Just don't use it unless you absolutely have to"

"I can't use it if I don't know what it's gonna do now can I?" she stated, more than a little sarcasm laced into her voice.

"Good, then there's no danger then is there" he abruptly turned and headed back towards the door, effectively ending the conversation, until her voice rang out once again.

"Wait…what do you want for it? I don't many credits left at the moment but…"

"Nothing"

"What, then why did you do it?"

"I don't believe a talent like yours should be wasted" then he left, closing the door behind him, leaving the stunned teenager in her home to add music to the lyrics she had created in the absence of her instrument.

End of chapter

I'm sorry, I know it's crap but I really wanted to get another chapter out while I still had the inclination to do it. I should be able to finish 'Trough Her Eyes' soon, and the summer hols are only two weeks away, so I should have enough time to finish it.

Please review, I haven't had one for the past two chapters, and while 'Trough her eyes is making up for it, I really would like to know if you like this story anymore as I was really proud of the last chapter an haven't had any feedback on it.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel


	14. Experiments

Hiya, sorry this one has taken so long but I had another story I wanted to finish first and this one kinda fell by the wayside for a time. Then my internet crapped out, and then the computer died, so I have to use the internet in the library whenever my home computer decides to let me use it to write anything. But my concentration is back on this story as the end is in sight (don't worry, it won't be for a few more chapters yet but I have planned this out (shock horror, this is planned!) and I can see the progression to the end)

I would like to thank my only reviewer for the last three chapters

Robert Teague: Thank you very much, I am loving your Ember stories I've read them both, I hope you update soon, I'm sorry I can't review personally but my comp has crapped out on me and this is it, I can't open pop up windows at the moment.

And now, I invite you (if you're still there) to delve once more into this fic.

Chapter 14 - Experiments

The next day (if you could call it that, what with the no visible passage of time and all) Ember awoke and smiled as the first thing her groggy eyes focused on was the newly restored guitar and sheets of paper cluttered near it. With the prospect of being able o try out the new buttons propelling her she leapt out of bed, into the shower and then got changed again before she was fully aware that she had woken.

After a breakfast of cold cereal and milk, she practically skipped into her bedroom, retrieved her precious guitar and literally flew through the door. As usual she landed safely in the park, guitar and brand new songs at the ready. Upon spotting a suitable group of targets, she flipped the switch to the purple ripples and brushed the plectrum across the strings. Purple ripples emanated from the guitar, the force pushed her back a few steps and her eyes automatically closed. When she opened them again she found all five of the ghosts staring blankly at her, their eyes faintly glowing red.

'_Did it work? How do I tell?' _

"Umm…Sing 'Old McDonald'" she commanded her zombies. As one, all five of the victims lifted their heads and sang

"OLD MCDONALD HAD A FARM EI…I…EI…I…OHHHH…"

Ember didn't hear any more as she had collapsed on the ground, holding her stomach with tears running down her face as the laughter rolled out of her. Eventually she managed to compose herself and stand up to discover that the five ghosts had stopped singing and were now arguing about what animal made what noise and which one they were going to imitate next. Felling another wave of laughter about to engulf her, Ember waved her arm and told them that the spell was broken (completely guessing as to how to reverse the effects as Skulker had never thought to tell her exactly how to do it). To her surprise it worked and her first 'victims' blinked, looked at each other in confusion and then dispersed mumbling something about mushrooms and to never trust anyone who sold things from baskets again.

With the success of one of the symbols, the teen felt emboldened and strode off to find some more victims. After not much searching, she found a couple she thought would be good to test another button on. They were stood ten feet apart screaming at each other about what, only they knew. The girl seemed to get the last word as she abruptly turned away from the boy and strode off away from Ember while the boy turned and began to walk toward her. This was her chance, she turned the button to the heart symbol and sent the plectrum flying across the strings, just as the boy noticed her. The spell shot out and hit him before he could utter a word of protest. The male's eyes glowed a funny shade of pink for a few seconds before he turned away from Ember and ran after the girl he had been arguing with.

Ember watched and then laughed as he begged her for another shot while she ignored him, then pushed him away so hard that he fell to the ground. She allowed herself a daydream of the person she wished she could do exactly that to before turning to find someone to try the last safe symbol on…and ran strait into a mountain.

She disentangled herself and found that it wasn't exactly a mountain she had run into, though a lump of stone may have had a better personality and more brains than what she had found herself in front of. It was a huge male ghost, his arms were three times thicker than the entire width of the teen and he possessed a chest Arnold Schwarzenegger would have been proud of.

"Watch where you're goin'," he rumbled in a thick accent, though Ember couldn't place it, he certainly sounded like he had grown up in some back water town where they still looked up in puzzlement at the moon. Then a thought struck her, _'what a perfect opportunity to try out that last safe button'_

"Well if you had enough brain cells to mange to look where you were going and walk at the same time it wouldn't have happened." The teen called boldly to the retreating back of the ghost. The large form turned back toward her, a look of growing hatred on his face.

"Were you talking to me?"

"Well I don't see anyone else here with the mental capacity of a cactus, do you?" her statements grew bolder as she sought a physical reaction, while simultaneously reaching down and spinning the button to the little blue fist, preparing to take off incase it wasn't as powerful as she hoped.

With barley any warning, the mountainous ghost turned fully toward her and charged, obviously forgetting that he could fly. She let him close the gap between them, some sort of confidence filled her, despite the fact she had never used this command before and had no idea what effect it would have on this guy, if any at all. When he was only six feet away from her, she stuck the chords. A large green fist emerged from the strings and knocked the ghost flying. He went so far Ember couldn't even see where he landed, the fact that she had been flying backward through the air at the time having more than a little to do with that.

When she had recovered herself, Ember stood back up and attempted to look for her last victim. Failing to do so prompted her to yell "That is SO cool" loud enough for some of the older residents of the park to look at her and mutter obscenities about the youth of today. While she was busy dancing over her success a presence, undetected, crept up behind her.

"Having fun?"

Ember almost jumped right out of her skin, then whirled on the intruder, her plectrum ready to knock them back as well. She relaxed as she recognized the red suit and matching hair.

"You know, there's only so many times someone can sneak up on a girl before she reacts violently." She quipped.

Spectra smiled "I see that Skulker found you then?" she said as she indicated the guitar hung around Ember's neck.

"Yea, he snuck up on me too"

Spectra smiled again "So, are you ready for your next lesson?" a look of puzzlement crossed the features of the teen momentarily, to be replaced with one of realization as in all her excitement over her precious returned guitar, she had forgotten that she was still in training. Reluctantly she pulled the guitar over her head and sat in down, propped up against a tree where she could keep her eye on it while she trained. Satisfied that it wouldn't disappear (though in this realm that was a very real possibility) she turned back to her mentor and said

"Okay, I'm ready"

Two and a half hours later, pupil and teacher found themselves back under the very tree Ember had left her guitar. The teen was absentmindedly playing one of her new songs while Spectra sat with her eyes closed and her face toward the sky, listening to the melody that was dancing from the guitar. As she listened, she became more and more relaxed and more and more of her inhibitions fell away. Finally, when Spectra had been lulled into a half sleeping state of consciousness, she uttered the words that were to change Ember's destiny again.

"You know, if you ever went back, you could probably go far with those songs."

Abruptly, the music stopped and Spectra woke up again. She looked around to the teen to inquire as to why she had stopped when she found the pair of luminous green eyes were focused on her.

"What do you mean if I go back?" she asked slowly. She was met with a look of puzzlement so decided to elaborate "There's a way to go back?"

Realizing what she had done, Spectra replied, deciding that honesty would be the best policy in this scenario "Yes, there's a way back"

Shocked, Ember stood and raised her voice at the woman who remained sitting at the foot of the tree. "Why didn't you tell me before now!"

"I didn't think you were ready"

"NOT READY!" Ember replied incredulously "not ready for what? Not ready to see my friends, my family my…" she trailed off as the next word didn't really apply to her anymore and brought more pain than happiness.

"I didn't think you would be ready to face them, remember I have been doing this a long time, I know how painful it is for a ghost to go back and see their family, with no way to interact with them. And the way you died would make it much worse. You're not ready"

"The hell I'm not! Come on, your going to show me where to get back and how to do it" Ember insisted and she grabbed Spectra's arm and proceeded to haul her to her feet. Once upright Spectra grabbed her arm back from the teen and stood her ground.

"Why do you want to go back, there's nothing for you there anymore, if there was, you wouldn't have committed suicide would you!"

Stinging from the verbal blow she had just received, Ember lowered her eyes and spoke to the grass "I want to try to find love" Spectra was shocked into silence, never once realizing what could possibly be at the root of all of the morbid songs Ember continued to write, even after she was dead. Ember raised her eyes back to the woman sharing the space with her when she sensed that she wasn't about to be verbally punished again and continued. "I left that world unloved, I was adored by my fans yes, but I wasn't loved. I want to go back, I want to find out if it's my fame that attracts people, or if it's me"

Though she was trying her best to hide the tears, Spectra saw them and her long dead heart melted for the teen. "Come on Ember, I'll show you where to get through" Spectra said as she rose into the air.

Stunned, Ember hastily wiped her eyes and followed, not wanting to waste this chance by saying anything. A short while later they landed before a swirling black and green vortex, almost indistinguishable from the sky around it. When they were both safely back on the ground, Spectra turned to the teen next to her "There it is, all you have to do is walk through it and your there."

"Where's there?"

"It comes out in some obscure place called Amity Park, don't ask me why, it just does" Spectra replied and just as she began to turn away to leave, Ember launched herself into the older woman's arms and hugged her.

"Thank you" Ember whispered into the red shoulder pad of her mentor, then she extracted herself, wiped away her tears and confidently strode through the portal.

End of Chapter

Once again, I feel I must apologize for taking so long to write this. I just couldn't make myself write, I was concentrating on my drawings but I felt I owed my loyal fans another chapter.

Thanks for reading this and I should be updating more regularly until the end. Not long to go now.

May the Angles bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel


	15. Musings of a Teenage Ghost

Chapter 15 – Musings of a Teenage Ghost

Hiya, I didn't really want to rehash the entire Fanning the Flames eppie as I'm sure anyone reading this would be a little more than familiar with that eppie, so I'm coping out again, that's right, another diary. So shoot me.

I'm just wondering now, is there some sort of silent protest going on somewhere that says that no-one is allowed to review 'Remember Me' 'cause to be honest, it's kinda disheartening when I have worked so hard (granted and taken a long time to do it) to produce a piece of work and no-one bothers their backside to leave me a review. If there is then don't worry, I intend to finish this off very soon then you don't have to continue reading it.

Chapter 15 - Musings of a Teenage Ghost

Dear Diary,

I've done it, I've managed to find a way out of that place, and now I'm back. Though there is a drawback, I've come back into some sort of back water town where 'everybody knows your name'. It's so sickening but then again, shouldn't complain, I'm lucky to be here. Now, must compose a to-do list:

·first order of the day acquire a band

·make a comeback tour to see if anyone remembers me

·acquire a fan base (with or without the help of my shiny new buttons)

·quiz them (with or without the buttons) and find out if it's me, or my name they love.

First though…need a band, not an easy thing to do so I must go now.

Talk to you later

Ember

--------

Dear Diary

Have found that is remarkably easy to assemble a band, even in this hick town. All I had to do was answer an ad in the paper asking for someone to front a band and gave an address for somewhere in Wisconsin.

If I were more paranoid I would suspect the ease with which I was promoted to the lead singer of this band of ghosts (sorry, did I not mention that, their all ghosts, just like me, which again, is very convenient)

Anyway, step one is accomplished, now onto step two, a comeback tour. I've already been on a music website and announced it, and already I think I can feel my power growing some of my old fans must still remember me. Now, just need to hire a bus or something to cart us around in with the money that man gave us (oh yea, forgot to mention, that guy has sponsored us and signed us onto his private record label, what is he, made of money)

Right, much much work to do, must go and make a start.

Bye for now

Ember

---------

Dear Diary

Right, I've been here for eight hours and I have a band, a bus, and an album. The fan base is building slowly and we're going out for our first performance in a few days, after the album is released tomorrow. After much debate, we decided on the local school, during school hours to get the kids attention. But like I said, I've been busy today, so I'm having an early night.

Night night

Ember

---------

Dear Diary

I have a rather ominous feeling in my gut. Right now I'm feeling almost exactly the same way I did at the start of my carrier last time…and we all know how that ended up. My album went on sale today, and already a lot of the stores have a limited supply of copies, they think that by lunch time they'll all be sold out. And with the sales, comes the power. I can feel it growing, little by little, as each copy is sold.

This feeling, it's addictive, I can see why some of those ghosts come back again and again, just for this feeling. I could grow to love it.

Right, I think I can hear one of my band mates screaming for me so we can practice, first live performance is in only two days time. Must dash

Ember

------------

Dear Diary

It is official; there are no more copies of my album for sale. They all sold out at 12.01 pm yesterday, after only 4 hours on the shelf. That website was a damn good idea, got them so hyped up they couldn't wait for my new album.

Only one day now until we go live, and we got a phone call earlier today to tell us that a proper concert is scheduled for midnight the same day performance at the school (well, technically not the same day, but you know what I mean.) Not just that, but more copies of the album are being made and sent WORLDWIDE! Can you imagine the power I would get from a worldwide audience? And even if the album doesn't do it, the concert is GLOBAL.

I really can't wait until the concert now, I'll show those little assholes who went and left me as soon as I hit it big. Friends, HA.

Right, enough of that, got to go practice some more.

Bye bye

Ember

-------

Dear Diary,

Right, only an hour left until the performance at the school. I'm ready, I'm able, I'm cool, I can do this…

I am so brickin' it at the moment, I haven't dome this in so long, I hope I can still remember how to do this. No, No, that's not the way to think, I am cool, I am calm and collected, I can do this, Hmmmmmmmmm Lalalalalalala memememememe sorry, just warming up my vocal chords.

Okay, one last practice session, then we're rolling.

See you after

Ember

---------

Dear Diary

Well, for the most part, the performance went well, turned up and got everyone chanting my name before launching into part of my song. Then some old guy got up and told me to leave, well, I'm not having that from some old wrinkly no-body, so I set the crowd on him, Yea, I got enough power from them that I was able to brainwash the whole crowd in one go and get them to attack that fuckwit.

Unfortunately, before they could this other ghosts came out of no-where and saved him, I took that as my cue to leave and literally vanished while he was mumbling about knocking me off the charts. Smart arse. I'll get him. I'll just wait for him to come to me.

I've decided to give the concert tickets out free to anyone who turns up to the store…in…crap, half an hour. Better go, don't wanna keep my loyal fans waiting do I?

Ember

----------------

Dear Diary.

The ticket giveaway went well, got them chanting even louder this time. I almost lost myself in the wave of power that overtook me then. Of course at the height of my fun, that little shit turned up again didn't he, him and his little girlfriend.

She drew on one of my one of my cutouts and stopped the crowd from chanting, the drop was significant, I nearly lost my hair, and I obviously wasn't having that either. Just as I was getting ready to attack her, that stupid little ghost boy turned up and shot something at me, had I been ready, I could have easily dodged, but he snuck up on me didn't he?

Anyway, I recovered and got him back, then decided to take it up to the roof. He followed me, and pathetically tried to stop me, of course my loyal fans put a stop to that. They gave me all the power I needed. Unfortunately, he figured me out, so I had to tell him, and his little girlfriend, what I am doing later, but It doesn't matter, I put them both under a love spell and left, I don't have to worry about them for a while now.

That's all for now, until we get to the concert grounds.

Ember

----------------------

Dear Diary

Right, we're here and everyone (myself included) is running around like headless chickens at the moment, preparing for this concert in…three hours and counting. Now, with any luck I won't have to deal with those two lovebirds again ever, though with their little school friends under my control, I can see them at least turning up.

It doesn't matter anyway, I'm too powerful for them to be able to do anything about my taking over their pathetic little town.

Hmmm, two and a half hours, better go for a sound check and a rehearsal before this concert actually begins

See you after the concert

Ember

------------------

Dear Diary

Well, that was an interesting experience. Halfway through my first song that ghost kid showed up again didn't he? No warning, nothing, just a kick in the side that sent me flying (literally) into a TV screen. Good thing I'm already dead, or that would have killed me.

Of course, pulled myself out of it and kicked his ass right back. Managed to trap him in a force field (thank you Spectra), after he BROKE MY GUITAR! And I thought that was that. But he tossed the mike to his incredibly untalented friend and he managed to break, not just my eardrums, but my spell. Leaving me powerless and at the mercy of the ghost kid. I offered no resistance as I had finally figured out the truth. I'm not loved. Well, the rock star might be, but I'm not, it was all the influence of the spell I cast with my guitar.

So now I'm in the ghost zone again, cold, bald, and being followed by some very very annoying ghost in his pajamas who won't stop saying my name over and over. It's all I can do not to turn around and snap his neck for him, unfortunately, that won't do me any good, so I just have to get used to it until Skulker is finished with my guitar again, or I can ditch him…I'm opting for door number two

Well, that's all I have to report about my little trip back to the mortal world.

Bye for now

Ember

End of Chapter.

Right, now if all goes to plan, there should only be one or two chapters left ( I know I've said that before and ended up writing about five more after those two)

Please review, I know were not allowed to respond (it won't stop me though, I care not for stupid rules, I shall go on responding as long as I have reviewers) but I wouldn't mind if someone, anyone, left me a review to tell me what you think so that I can respond, you haven't got many chances left.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel


	16. An Unexpected Visitor in the Night

For all of you who have been so patent with me and my erratic updating schedule, I have a little treat. We have another guest dropping in for this chapter, but to find out who it is you'll have to read on won't you? Do you think you'll be able to figure it out before I reveal it, and don't spoil it for yourself by reading down first; sometimes life is more fun when you leave the wrapping paper on.

MaryTwain: Thanks for reviewing.

Okay, I warn you now they may both get a little OOC and the things that happen may seem a little ridiculous, bit you know what, artistic license, I employ it often and I love it.

Chapter 16 – An Unexpected Visitor in the Night

It had been a week since Ember had visited, and he still sat up at night thinking about that day. She had given him a lot to think about, inadvertently, but still. Tonight was no exception, it was gone 2 am and he was still staring up at the ceiling, counting the various holes and bumps and things, trying in vain to get to sleep. Finally, he gave up and sat himself up in bed, preparing to get up and do anything other than lie in bed for God only knew how long and think.

For no apparent reason, the temperature in his room suddenly plummeted and he found himself hugging himself and shivering, wondering what was going on. The answer revealed itself to him in the form of a whip of blue mist that escaped from his mouth.

"Who's there?" Danny demanded of the empty air as he turned on his bedside light, he stood up on his bed and transformed and a voice spoke from somewhere relatively close, and defiantly in his room.

"Please, don't get angry, I'm not here to harm you…this time. I just want a chance to explain myself" the voice was a familiar one; it was female, and, even to Danny's ears, sounded adolescent. But he couldn't quite place it.

"If you told me who you are then I might be more inclined to let you talk" Danny once again said into the air, in the general direction the voice had come from, refusing to relax until he was sure he wasn't in immediate danger.

"Just promise me you won't get angry okay" the voice had moved again and It became apparent to Danny that unless he either agreed or kept this specter talking, he wasn't going to find out who it was sharing his room with him at this ungodly time of the morning.

"Alright fine, just show yourself" Danny said exasperated

"Transform"

"Excuse me"

"Transform back and I will"

"Why" Danny was begging to get agitated and the voice was becoming more and more familiar the more he listened to it.

"'Cause then I'll have time to leave if you get angry, you'll have to transform again if you want to hurt me"

"Who are you to come into my room at this time in the morning and give me orders" The agitation had blossomed into full blown anger by this point, he thought he heard a pleading note when the voice next spoke

"I'm someone who wants the chance to explain herself and she wouldn't mind it if you were a little more hospitable"

"But why come now"

"Because neither of us can sleep and if I came to you at any other time you'd probably try to fight me, though even at this time at night you're still trying"

"Well what would you do if someone came, unannounced into your room at 2 in the morning and demanded that you let your guard down and listen to them?"

"Probably try to fight them" the female voice admitted. Danny felt a superior smirk cross his features as he forced the voice to submit a fraction"

"And what if you were the one wanting to talk and the person you wanted to talk to wouldn't settle down and let you"

Danny felt a tiny pang of guilt and decided that if this voice was concerned about him transforming and fighting, then he could probably kick her ass if the need arose, so he transformed back into his shorts and vest he wore for bed. "Okay, but don't keep me up too late"

"Promise you won't get mad and try to attack me on site?"

"Stop making demands"

"It wasn't a demand" the voice sounded exasperated "it was a request"

"Okay, I promise not to attack"

"Thank you" slowly, from the furthest corner of the room, a figure appeared. She was indeed female wearing a pair of black pants with a grey belt, a black one sleeved top with a black glove, grey skull capped boots and outrageous makeup. Her trademark blue hair was still as short as it was in the last few seconds they had interacted with each other but she was still unmistakable

"Ember!" Danny jumped off the bed and back onto the floor, preparing himself to transform again, but the ghost simply held up her hand as if for silence.

"You promised me you wouldn't attack, if I wanted to attack you, I would have simply done it. I wouldn't have asked you for an audience." Slowly, almost hesitantly she moved over to the bed and sat down at the foot of it, leaving Danny the rest of the bed so they could sit a comfortable distance apart. Danny sat down near his pillows, not quite all the way to the other side of the bed, but close.

"Okay, so what did you want to talk about" he broached, wishing to get the ghost woman out of his room as fast as possible, not just because he was slightly embarrassed over his state of dress, but also because he was afraid of the reaction it would provoke if either of his parents found him in here with a girl, never mind one who is a ghost.

"I wanted to explain myself and my actions a week ago, I really don't know what happened to me, I'm not usually like that. I got power hungry; it went to my head and sent me a bit mad. That's all I can think of. That's why I let you catch me…"

"LET me catch you…" Danny interjected, but Ember cut across him

"Yes, _let_ you catch me, I only did it because I had come to the conclusion that I really didn't want to live in your world anymore…"

"You're not alive, so technically, you can't live anywhere" Danny felt he needed to get his own back, even if it was in a juvenile way,

"And you're not funny Babypop, now just shut up and let me speak" suitably chastised, Danny pouted, crossed his arms over his chest and sulked. "Anyway, I didn't want to remain…" she grinned at Danny who threw a sarcastic grin back at her "…in a world where no one truly loved me, that's why I…"she trailed off, appalled at herself for what she had been about to revel, unfortunately for her, even through his sulk, Danny caught it.

"That's why you what" he asked as he un-curled himself, sat up straighter, and turned a little in order to face her better.

Embarrassed, Ember turned her face away to stop the younger boy from seeing the slight blush that had crept across her cheeks "Nothing, never mind" but, having only met him a handful of times, Ember didn't know how persistent Danny could be if he set his mind to it.

"No, come on it must have been important, that's why you what?"

Having been in the room with him for less than 10 minutes, she was already sick to the back teeth of his backchat, so, in an attempt to shut him up, she exploded "That's why I committed suicide, happy!"

For a few seconds, her plan seemed to work, all the teen whose bed she was sharing did was staring at her and blink while the stunned silence stretched on between them. Finally, Danny seamed to remember that he had vocal chords.

"You…committed suicide?"

"Yea, how do you think I ended up in the ghost zone?"

"No, it's just that I never really thought about the fact that at some point, you guys were alive and…now your not, I just…never thought about how you might have ended up there" He had lowered his eyes to the bed now, unwilling to meet her eyes through embarrassment

"Well, now you know. I died the first time because I felt rejected and unloved, despite my fame. And it happened again when I came back, only faster, I couldn't remain where I wasn't loved"

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be, you may have ruined my comeback tour, but I'm glad you did in a way. I didn't like the person I was turning into"

The blue eyes of the young man rose from his bedspread to her neon green ones as he considered how to phrase the question he had been thinking about since that day "Ember, why did you make me fall in love with Sam?"

"Who?"

"Sam, the girl who was on the roof with me"

"The Goth?"

"Yea"

She took a moment to think of a suitable answer before she spoke again "Partially to get you out of the way so I could take over"

"I'd figured that out"

"Do you want to know" she asked, a dangerous edge creeping into her voice.

"Of coarse, or I wouldn't have asked would I?

"Well, shut up then and let me speak…the other reason was tat I wanted you to experience love. I guess I thought that once you're discovered, you might end up being shunned, while you're still young, innocent and optimistic, I wanted you two to experience love, before you became too cynical…If you think I was out of line I apologize…"

She was cut off when what would have been her breath was knocked from her as Danny threw his arms around her and enveloped her in a fierce hug; tentatively she patted his back and tried to get out of his arms as she was feeling uncomfortable. Eventually he released her and sat back again on the bed looking at her slightly embarrassed himself over the fact that he hadn't released what he was doing until he was doing it.

"Don't worry Ember; I don't think you were out of line, those were the best few hours of my life so far, I actually waned to thank you for it."

"Thank me?" she was stunned

"Yea, you've given me the confidence I needed"

"For what?"

"Never mind" it was his turn to dodge the issue now and she didn't push it, and it was just then that he noticed her hair. "Ember"

"What?"

"Have you noticed your hair has grown a little?"

Immediately her hand shot up to her hair to inspect it, and sure enough, it was a couple of inches longer.

"How do you think that happened" he inquired

"I think it might have had something to do with that hug you gave me, I felt loved so it must have grown."

"See I'm good for something" as he turned his head to give her a cheeky grin his eyes fell on the alarm clock next to his bed, the glowing red digits told him it was nearing three in the morning, and if he knew his dad, he was about to get up and go to the toilet, and check on his kids on the way back.

"Ember"

"What?"

"Not that I haven't enjoyed this heart to heart, but I think it's time you went back, I wouldn't want you to get caught by my dad, he can go a bit mad sometimes"

"Yea okay, do you know how I can get back?"

"Follow me" Danny rose to his feet and transformed before sinking through the floor and down into the lab in the basement, when she joined him he swept his arm, in rather a proud manner in the direction of the portal.

"That's the Fenton portal, it's our portal into your world" as he spoke he walked over to the control panel and opened the huge metal door to revel the swirling green and black vortex beyond "all you have to do is fly through"

"Okay, I guess I'll be seeing you kid" she stepped up to the portal and prepared to fly back into her world when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. A slight pressure turned her around and she once again found herself in the embrace of the ghost child.

"Just remember, somewhere out there, someone does love you" he spoke softly into her ear before releasing her and inspecting her hair again. He smiled when he saw another inch or two had been added on "cool, you're like some kind of noise activated flower, give you a hug and your hair grows"

She glared at him and turned back to the portal "Whatever see ya later" and with that she disappeared back into the Ghost Zone.

End of Chapter

Right, it looks like this might really work, I could really finish this up in about a chapter, two at most.

Not sure what people think about it anymore, (but I'm only really only doing this for me now) so if you feel like enlightening me, you know what to do.

See you all soon

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel


	17. Remembered

Hiya guys. This is the last chapter, it's written, it's done. I'm sorry, but I'm not writing anymore, I've been writing this for months and as far as I'm concerned, it's done. I hope you liked it and thank to everyone who read it.

Now, irrespective of FF's new rule, I would like to thank…

Robert Teague: Thank you, I was worried about how OOC she may have been, I'm glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing.

MaryTwain: will 2,825 words do? Lol Thanks for reviewing 

DAPC: Thanks; I was worried the interaction wouldn't have been believable. Unfortunately no, after this I'm leaving this story well alone, it's taken up enough of my time as it is. Not that it hasn't been fun at times. Thanks for the review.

Chapter 17 – Remembered

A week later Ember found herself wondering aimlessly around the ghost zone, just thinking about all manner of things. She had spent the week since her visit to Danny's in much the same way as she had spent her first week, shopping, writing new songs, waiting for her guitar to be fixed, trying to make her hair grow further and (to a lesser degree) training.

Spectra had decided shortly after her return that they probably didn't need to train as often as they had before as she could progress well on her own, she had the basics; now all she had to do was develop them.

Her musings blinded her to her surroundings and before she knew what she was doing, she found herself back in her favourite part of the Ghost Zone, the park. She often came here, to write, to play her guitar, to watch the kids and generally to unwind, and as she had found herself here, she decided she would do just that.

She wondered over to the trees and sat down under a relatively big one. When she was settled she pulled her notebook and pencil case out of the bag she had taken to carrying around with her and simply sat for a while and wrote as she watched the world go by around her.

Faintly she heard the sound of music drifting towards her from somewhere nearby, she lifted her head and looked around, from the sound of it, it was coming from the same group of trees that she had taken refuse under. A quick initial search of the area didn't reveal much, so she packed up her stuff and took a little walk around the open field, sparsely populated with the odd ghost and random trees.

She followed the music as it got louder and louder and when she found the source, she stopped dead in her tracks and stared. It was a young man, he was dressed in a black t-shirt that had only one short sleeve, the other was cut off at the shoulder and the shirt was cut diagonally across his stomach. His trousers were black with one long leg and the other was cut off above the knee. He had a grey belt with a skull on the buckle, a pair of black gloves that stopped at his wrists and a pair of grey ankle boots. His hair was now two different shades of blue, darker on the bottom, lighter on top and it was defying gravity in its style and his eyes matched her own, he even had similar designs to her under them. He was sitting under a tree with a blue guitar on his lap. His hair and eyes had changed, but he was still obviously…

"Ash"

As if he had heard Ember whisper his name, Ash stopped playing and looked up. His eyes shot open as they landed on Ember, he leapt up as she spun on her heal and practically ran away, not wanting to talk to him at all. Unfortunately, as in life, he was still faster than her in death. He caught up with her before she was out of the clearing and spun her around by the wrist when he was close enough.

"Ember? Is it really you?"

"Why the hell would you care?" she demanded as she tore free from his grasp.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked confused

"That means, you used me and then dumped me like a bag of shit, so why would you care if you ever saw me again" she was angry, all this time and now he turned up out of the blue.

"You think I just used you?"

"Well, I slept with you once and then you disappeared, never even called me or anything, what would you call that?" Ashamed, Ash dropped his head and Ember took her chance, rather than wait for him to explain, she took to the air and flew as fast as she possibly could back to her own house.

Once there she stalked in and slammed the door, too upset to just phase through, she found, to her relief, that Skulker had simply retuned her guitar and left like she had asked him to do. Ignoring it for the time being, she stalked strait into her room and flopped down on the bed, the tears already flooding down her face. She amazed herself by being able to get herself under control in 15 minutes, after which she wiped her eyes and wondered back into the living room where her guitar stood patiently waiting for her. She picked it up and proceeded to play as loud as she could, trying to drown out her thoughts.

She wasn't sure how long she was playing before she heard a noise at her door. Her first instinct was to ignore it and keep jamming, but it became more and more persistent, and it obviously wasn't going to go away. In disgust she took her guitar off and stormed across the room. She threw the door open and was about to launch into a tirade until she saw the face on the other side of the door.

"Ember please…"

The door being promptly slammed in his face cut off whatever it was that Ash was about to say as Ember stomped back to her guitar and prepared to play again, what she had forgotten however was that both of them were now ghosts and slamming a door in someone's face now, didn't necessarily keep people out. Remembering this himself, Ash simply floated through the door and into Ember's living room.

"Leave"

"Ember please I have to…"

"Leave!"

"Ember will you just…"

"LEAVE!"

"NO! NOT UNTIL YOU'VE HEARD ME OUT"

Silence fell as the two tried to outstare each other until finally, Ember relented.

"Fine, but you've got five minutes, after that you leave and I never want to see or hear from you again"

"Ember, I didn't use you, I really was going to call and come up to the concert to see you but an ex crawled out of the woodwork, accusing me of fathering her child, it took weeks to get that sorted out, and then by the time it was…it was too late to call you. Ember I am so sorry you killed yourself and if it was my fault in any way I can't apologize enough but I was so busy trying to prove that I wasn't that kids father that I even forgot my own birthday. I truly regret not phoning you, and not just because of what you did, but I really missed you when you were on tour"

"Everything seems so much easier with hindsight doesn't it? Did you ever hear my last song Ash? Can you guess who it was about? I was so miserable Ash, I died alone and miserable, and I blame you"

"Well what can I say Ember, I'm sorry you died, I'm sorry you were miserable, I'm sorry I didn't call…"

"Sorry…you think sorry is going to relieve all the pain I felt? I died feeling unloved, feeling used, feeling abandoned. Do you have any idea what that's like? Dying alone in a hotel room far from home, hopeless, loveless"

Sensing that he wasn't going to get anywhere like that brought a bubble of surprised rage from Ash "Do you think you were the only victim in all of this? It destroyed your parents, your friends. Do you know what its like hearing that the woman that you love committed suicide and there was nothing you could do about it?"

"Oh no, don't you dare try to guilt trip me with that 'woman I love' crap. You never loved me, you used me and left me"

"Ember, why d you think I'm standing here with you"

"You died and I had the misfortune to meet up with you after you got here, and how did you get here anyway, who told you where I live?"

"Ember, I love you so much that I couldn't stand living without you, I committed suicide the day you did"

"More fool you then, and who told you where I live?"

"Spectra did, she told me that she had just met you that very same day, and I asked her not to tell you. I didn't want you to know I was here until I was ready, as it turns out you ran into me but that doesn't matter, what does matter is that I love you and I want to prove it"

Tears had begun to well up in her eyes, she didn't want to believe him, she had to believe he was lying, yet a part of her ached to believe him. "There's nothing you could possibly do that would prove it to me, you had your chance when I was alive, and you blew it now you've had you five minutes. Leave"

"Ember…"

" I said get out now leave GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT" as the anger welled and the tears fell she began beating her fists on his chest, desperate to get him out of her life. She was becoming hysterical and in danger of hurting herself, so Ash wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close, in an attempt to minimize the damage she could cause.

She kept crying and punching him and screaming into his chest "GET OUT GET OUT, YOU DON'T LOVE ME, NO-ONE LOVES ME, I'M ALONE, GET OUT…get out. I don't need you…I don't…" Her screams died off as she exhausted herself. When he was sure that she couldn't put up much of a fight he released his grip and pulled her away, keeping hold of her shoulders, so that he could look into her eyes as he said what he wanted to say next.

"Ember, I do love you, I know you may not believe me, but it doesn't make it any less true, I'm just sorry you had to die for me to realize that."

Ember just shook her head violently, as if trying to disperse a bad dream she didn't want to remember. "No, you don't, you can't, no-one loves me…" the rest of her sentence was lost as Ash descended and captured her lips in a fierce yet gentle kiss.

When they broke, Ember was shocked, slowly a small smile crept onto her face "are you serious, 'cause if your not…" a second kiss put her worries to rest, and this time she felt a huge rush of power and when they broke she heard Ash gasp. Guessing correctly, she raised her hand to inspect her hair, and found that it was even longer than it had been when she had left to go to the mortal world for the first time.

"Spectra mentioned something about you having emotional related powers." Ash said, as much to reassure himself as to let Ember know she didn't need to explain.

Ember released herself from Ash's arms and glared at him "Don't think this means I forgive you, I'm still mad but…"

"But what…" Ash asked hopefully

"But I think I might love you now too" Ash's grin spread from ear to ear and once again, he captured her lips with his own.

Two weeks later Danny was messing around in the laboratory as his parents were out and Jazz was at the library. He had come down here just so he could keep up with his parent's inventions, every now and again they neglected to tell him about one or two, and they usually ended up being the more dangerous ones.

He was almost finished mentally cataloguing the new additions to the lab when the temperature dropped and a wisp of blue smoke escaped him in a gasp. The portal doors opened and he spun round to face them, transforming before he had even finished moving.

A boy emerged; he was dressed all in black and had two-tone, gravity defying blue hair. He looked about 18 years old. As Danny drew breath to throw a sarcastic, witty comment at him, a second ghost emerged. This one was also dressed all in black but this was a woman, her hair was more turquoise and, to Danny's surprise, nearly reached her waist, even though it was pulled up into a high ponytail. He relaxed when this second ghost appeared and addressed her first.

"Ember, your hair grew"

She blushed and reached up to her hair, "Yea I know, gotta say, I prefer it long" she said with a smile.

"So, who's this then, not anyone I have to worry about I hope" Danny asked indicating the boy that had accompanied her through.

"Danny, this is my boyfriend Ash, Ash, Danny"

The two boys floated toward each other and shook hands, exchanging pleasant greetings as they did so.

"You shouldn't have to worry about him, unless we have a fight, then you'll have to worry about both of us going on angry rampages" Ember continued when Ash floated back to her and put his arm around her waist.

"Well, I feel reassured" he shared a smile with Ember before she turned her head up and kissed Ash gently on the cheek. "Eww, get a room"

The two ghosts giggled before Ash answered, without taking his eyes from Ember "We've already got one"

"Okay, TMI guys, really didn't want to think about that" he had to look away as they kissed again "oh man give me a break" cautiously he looked back around when he thought it was safe, to his relief he found they had stopped trying to eat each other and were now staring each other lovingly in the eyes.

"So…how come your hair is so long now?" Danny asked Ember, if nothing else but to try and pre-empt another kissing fit

Ember looked first at Danny, then Ash, then back to Danny. "I fell in love, and I've been loved in return. And I'm sure you remember my powers were based on love"

Danny merely nodded as an indication that he did in fact remember her rampage a month ago and what had happened to him when she got more powerful. He floated before them for a few seconds before something started to bug him "Ember?" she turned back to face him "Is there a reason you're back again?"

"Yea, I just wanted to thank you"

"Thank me?"

"Yea, I enjoyed our little chat, and if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to forgive this guy" she indicated Ash by playfully digging her elbow into her side before floating out of his arms and approaching Danny. Before he realized what was happening, she put her arms around him.

Danny was too stunned to do anything so for a few seconds he just floated where he was and let the ghost embrace him. When he saw over Ember's shoulder that Ash didn't mind, he returned the hug.

When they released each other, Danny saw tears beginning to form in the neon green eyes of the ghost woman before him. "You're welcome Ember, I hope you two are happy together"

Wiping her eyes, she smiled at Danny and turned back to the portal and Ash who put his arm around her shoulders when she reached him. Together they turned back towards Danny and Ember lifted her hand and waved. "Goodbye Danny" and with that, they vanished through the portal.

Danny smiled as he landed and transformed, he walked over to the control panel and locked the portal before turning and going back up the stairs out of the lab.

"Goodbye Ember, I'm glad someone remembered you at last"

The End.

WOHOOOOOOOO, that's that one done. I'm sorry to anyone who would like more, but I think that 33,619 words in 17 chapters and 64 pages is enough for an intended one shot, don't you?

Thanks for reading but I have another fic I've been dying to write, and now I have word again, I can.

Bye bye, and I hope to see you again soon.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel


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